Skipping/freezing - hard drive woes

Hi all. For several months I've been having a problem with my iPod, and after searching these forums I think I'm not alone. Here are the details:
1. During some tracks, the iPod will freeze, the hard drive spins up, and suddenly it jumps to the next track. It always happens at the same point in the same tracks, until I reload the iPod with new music and/or do a restore. At this point, there will be freezing/skipping in different tracks.
2. There is no problem with the files themselves -- they play in iTunes and as I mentioned above, the "skipping" happens in different tracks after I reload the iPod. This is unbelievably frustrating when the skips end up in the middle of an audiobook track...
3. Thinking that this was a problem with the hard drive itself (bad sectors or something) I've tried using the iPod Software Restore application, but it doesn't seem to be able to reformat the drive. According to what I've read here and on the 'net, it might not be a good idea to use Disk Utility to reformat the drive, although I'm considering it.
4. I put the iPod into Diagnostic Mode and ran the HDD Scan. Here is the output:
HDD SCAN
END SCAN.
112
RD FAIL
SCAN NG
So, anybody know how to interpret this? Any suggestions from the tech folks on how to get the drive software to ignore the bad sectors?
Powerbook G4   Mac OS X (10.4.3)  

Would this mean the particular hard drive is on it's way out ?
Yes
immediately salvage any and all data from same to another HD before total failure.

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