I just loaded windows vista on my computer and a warning keeps popping up saying that I have a ST98823A ATA DEVICE failure, and to back up my files immediately which I have already done on a separate hard drive . Any suggestions as to how I can fix this problem?

.. any suggestions as to how i can fix this problem?

Check the drive cabling and jumpers for proper configuration and then scan drive with Seagate's Diagnostic Software (http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools). There's troubleshooting and configuration info in the support section for the drive on Seagate's website (http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=d8bd99f4fa74c010VgnVCM100000dd 04090aRCRD&locale=en-US).

You say you just loaded Vista... are you reloading it because you've had a problem, or loading it as an upgrade from a previous version?

If you're upgrading, I would say it's probably a driver issue. That's the first thing to check... Windows usually installs it's own drivers for hard drives, and it's pretty good about installing the right ones. So if you just used an upgrade disc, you may have a driver already installed for it that's incompatible with Vista, and reporting failures. To update, right click on My Computer, go to Properties, click on Manage, and then click Device Manager in the menu on the left. Double click on the ST98823A device, click the driver tab, and click update driver. Follow the instructions on screen.

If that doesn't help (Hey it was worth a shot... ) then it's probably a bad hard drive. I've had a lot of people say the life of a hard drive is anywhere between 2 and 7 years. In my personal experience, about 2-3% of hard drives will fail within the first few months, if they're not tested before they're shipped out. A few go bad after a year or 2. The others will last a good 5 or 6 years, or more.