I can't comment on the possibility of hard disk failure and will let others advise there.

However, if this problem is not related to the hard disk, it could simply be about corrupted files. This is a common problem with Explorer, (Windows Explorer, My Documents, Computer, etc), where the folders are viewed in a Icon or Thumbnail option and Explorer attempts to render either an image file or video file which is corrupted. Changing view to List or Details fixes the problem, but does not fix the corrupted file.

I can only suggest that as a possibility, and then leave it to you to investigate that further.

Good luck.

Mark