Hi to all you PC gurus!

I'm new to these groups and so please forgive me if my questions are frequently
asked, but I don't know the answer :) I've been recently having some problems
with my 386 computer with a Seagate 40 meg hard drive. I occasionally find
corrupted files, but most of the time programs work fine. Are there any utilities
that are easily available that can help me determine whether or not the problem
is a result of the hard drive vs an ill-behaved program or some other hardware
item? Are there utilites to determine whether or not the hard drive is properly
aligned etc? As might be expected, I would greatly appreciate any help on this
matter. I'm considering just reformatting the disk and reinstalling everything
(and hoping that will fix the problem), but I would like to have some assurance
of what the problem cause is. 

Also, can someone give me an opinion on DOS 6.0? Are the compression and
defragmentation routines good enough to consider the upgrade if I don't have
those routines already (as opposed to buying them separately)? 


Much thanks in advance for any help.