Is my new hard drive failing?

[[email protected]]

I recently purchased a new computer:

Vista Home Premium 64-bit
Core 2 Quad @ 2.83 Ghz
8.00 GB Ram
500 GB Hard Drive

I noticed as soon as windows was installed and up and running, the system was very slow and sluggish, often unable to complete two things at once...then services would randomly shut down and applications wouldnt open. I tried a disk check but it kept on freezing at the same point (stage 4 of 5) which suggested to me the hard drive was the problem. I've also had a number of problem reports coming up saying an application can't open becuase of the hard drive. I ran SeaTools, and both the Short DST and Long DST failed, as well as the Long Generic. Should I presume the hard drive is basically screwed and I should replaced it/send it back?

Thank you

Hard Drive Model:

Seagate Barracude ST3500320AS

[Allan]

You ran a diagnostic on the hd and it failed? Ummmm, yes - I'd assume there is a problem with the drive