> fd0c: hard error reading fsbn 0 (st0 40<abnrml> st1 1<no_am> st2 0 cyl 0
> head 0 sec 1)
> [...]
> Does this mean my drive is dead or what? According to the previous owner the
> drive was working fine a month ago, so maybe it got damaged in shipping.

This error has been reported before; it is almost certainly caused
by an error in the driver, but I've no idea exactly which of the
errors it is..

-pk