Hard Disk Drive blocks for several minutes

Hi all,
I really need help on this. Sometimes my computer hard disk drive turns the access light on and makes the operating system unresponsive for several minutes (10 to 30 minutes). After that time it recovers (and all the orders I desperately gave to the computer start executing).
I suspect that it may be damaged file sectors access. Is my suspicion right?
How can I repair the hard disk drive without harming the good functionality of the operating system?

Thanks in advance.

Try running sfc /scannow click start, type cmd, run as administrator then type sfc space backslash scannow, , or click on Brinks excellent tutorial. good luck,

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/66978-system-files-sfc-command.html

If the problem is due to corrupt files, the above will work
If it is due to bad hard drive segments, follow this tutorial.
Check both boxes as shown in the tutorial
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/67612-check-disk-chkdsk.html

Thanks. I'll try that later.