Delayed Write Failed Message

Since Friday - when I allowed Windows 2000 to automatically install
available updates - I have been receiving a sporadic message:

"Windows was unable to save all the data for the file
\Device\HarddiskVolume3\$mft. The data has been lost. This error may be
caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please
try to save this file elsewhere."

Normally when this message appears, the second drive [] disappears and
only reappears on a system Shutdown. This D drive is a physical second drive
and NOT a partition. All has been working fine until these updates were
installed. This may be purely coincidence, but as the system has been
working relatively trouble free for the last couple of years I was wondering
if it was linked, or is it a hard disk failure?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Paul.