bad clusters, read failure, bad sectors

CHKDSK “Bad Clusters” and “Read failure” on C: drive: -

My computer is a Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit SP1 with 8GB RAM. The HDD has 93GB used space and 204GB of free space remaining. After reading the details see question at end.

After failing to create an image of my C: drive using Macrium Reflect (MR) I decided to run a full 5 stage CHKDSK scan. Scan results showed: -

12 “Read failure” entries.
Windows replaced bad clusters in file 16384 of name \Windows\winsxs\AM5853~1.180\ntoskrnl.exe”.
Adding 6 bad clusters to the Bad Clusters File.
Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.
24 KB in bad sectors.

I was then able to create an image of my C: drive using Macrium Reflect but I was intrigued so: -

Three days later another full 5 stage CHKDSK scan reported: -
1 “Read failure” entry.
24 KB in bad sectors.

Thirty days later I was again unable to create an image of my C: drive using Macrium Reflect so I ran another full 5 stage CHKDSK scan which reported: -
2 “Read failure” entries.
Windows replaced bad clusters in file 16384 of name \Windows\winsxs\AM5853~1.180\ntoskrnl.exe”.
Adding 1 bad clusters to the Bad Clusters File.
Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.
24 KB in bad sectors.

I was then able to create an image of my C: drive using Macrium Reflect.

One day later another full 5 stage CHKDSK scan reported: -
2 “Read failure” entries.
Windows replaced bad clusters in file 16384 of name \Windows\winsxs\AM5853~1.180\ntoskrnl.exe”.
Adding 1 bad clusters to the Bad Clusters File.
Correcting errors in the Volume Bitmap.
Windows has made corrections to the file system.
24 KB in bad sectors.

Observation 1 – The file affected by bad clusters is always the same file.
Observation 2 – I have hidden folders and files showing but in Windows Explorer I cannot find a folder “\Windows\winsxs\AM5853~1”.
Observation 3 – “read failures”, “bad clusters” and “bad sectors” are common.
Observation 4 – I can only create an image if I repair the disk first using a full 5 stage CHKDSK scan.
Observation 5 – My PC operates fine otherwise apart from not shutting down sometimes. It was only trying to create an image that highlighted the issue.

Question – Is my hard drive C: beginning to fail?

As bad it's are found bad sectors are remapped to engineering sectors and you don't see this one they are full then they show up on the disk so it means the disk is in a bad state and liable to die at any point

Suggest you to copy important data files directly.

Do not use those cloning and partition copy as 1 to 1.
This can include bad clusters files being copied, but it may mark it as a bad clusters on the new HDD but not.

For those files mentioned as bad clusters, either you deleted that files &or take note.
Meaning after completed moving to new HDD, do run CHKDSK to ensure it do not produce the same result.