Hard disk failure: could it explain other failures?

[Temlakos]

Everyone:

Guess what--I just suffered a hard-disk failure. This failure was not
complete, but it was to the point where I couldn't boot the system
anymore. Fortunately, I had burnt the rescue disk, which I used to sign
on, get the network interface working, and issue some vital "scp"
commands. And after  I rescued my most important files and move them to
another machine, I began to wonder about a few things.

Ever since I installed Fedora Core 2 on the machine in question, I have
never been able to read the list of Samba users even after adding a
number of users. Nor has my sound system ever worked as it should have.

Now I start to wonder: Could the faulty hard drive have caused all the
trouble before it finally failed?

That this is the first time I have suffered such a failure tells you how
new I am to Linux generally (though I doubt that I would have been able
to effect such a comprehensive rescue in Windows!). Would some of you
veterans give me some insights as to whether programs and services that
somehow refuse to perform as described are signs of incipient hard-drive
failure?

TAH