How rugged are HDs?

Dave Cope asks "Since I have recently begun attending university, I have been moving my computer between my residense and my home a great deal. Today when I was defragging my HD, I found that I had some bad sectors. I have done surface scans of my HD before, so I am sure that this problem is only a few weeks old at most. The HD is an, almost new 3.5" 5.2GB drive. I am wondering if the car trips to and from university could have damaged the drive, or if it is more likely a manufacturing defect. I always thought that as long as a HD wasn't spinning it could absorb a fair amount of shock without damage. I would like some advice if possible. First, is the damage my fault, or just a defect in the drive? (I would like to know if my warranty covers me) Second, if I replace the drive will I have similar problems if I try moving the computer around a lot? Third, are there any ways I can safely transport my computer? Generally I am looking at ways to get around this problem. I would like to take my computer home on the weekend so I can do school work. If I can't take the computer home I will have to use my old 486 and move a lot of information between my two computers."&nbsp Now I've been throwing my boxes around for years and I've had a few drives go bad on me, but I think this is more an issue of the quality of a specific drive rather than a general concern. What say you?