If there has been a physical/hard error communicating with the drive, Windows' will set a bit in the filesystem header, that signals it to do a full disk suface-scan during the next boot. So if SCANDISK is coming up, and then sitting there for a while, that's likely to be what is happening. (Unless you hear repeated clicking noises from the HD, in which case, Windows is attempting to do a surface-scan, but failing miserably, because the HD itself is failing.)
You're on the right track, I think, if you are obtaining a new HD soon. You could try downloading the mfg's diagnostic tools, usually they offer a bootable floppy or CD that you can use, that will do a low-level surface-scan and check for bad sectors. I would do that, and let it "fix" any bad sectors that it finds (warning - may corrupt whatever files those bad sectors are contained in - don't do this if you have important data and are considering professional data-recovery services). After that, then let Windows' do the full surface-scan on boot, and wait for it, could take some time depending on the size of the drive. After that, Windows' should clear that mark on the filesystem, so it won't trigger SCANDISK every time anymore.
. At least now I can back up all my vital business data.
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