hardrive sectors

I have a 8 gig hardrive and when I do a scandisk, it says that I have 700,416 bytes in bad sectors. Does this mean that my hardrive is about to die? Will the bad sectors slow down my hardrive speed?
My computer is about 5 years old so I guess it is a 33 bus speed. Can I install a newer 100 or 133 dma 7200 rpm hardrive in place of the old one? Can anyone help me?

 

Probably (about ot die), Yes (slow down), No ( transfer rate must
be the same).

 

Thank you 2000 for the information about hardrives. I thought I could put any new hardrive in place of the old one. I want to learn how to do the work myself.

 

Yea Doug sorry to say but that computer has become a door stop. If the bad sectors are at the front of the drive then failure is imminent. Towards the back of the platter it may hang on a little bit longer. Standard scandisk daily if you want and watch for an increase of bad sectors. As there becomes more the drive is getting ready to crash. With as many sectors as are bad now I would be getting any info you want to save off now. Jeez and old 166, what were you doing with it? But if you want to build your own we will give you all you need to know. It’s easier than you think!