HP Compaq pc with Windows xp shows a message when starting , Hard disk failure is imminent please backup your data

If the machine came with XP, it is a very old machine. Probably at this point, better to replace it if you can.

If you tell us the exact error message and when it occurs during startup, we can give you better advice.

At a minimum you will have to replace the hard drive

No matter what the error full description is this person needs to backup and move off that computer.

and look into the smart errors, to check what triggered it
https://www.howtogeek.com/134735/how-to-see-if-your-hard-drive-is-dying/

Most probably your HDD is near death. Use this tool to check SMART Data http://www.dposoft.net/hdd.html

I suspect it has some bad sectors. And yes you should consider backing up your data at urgent!

Just do what I suggested in the first post.

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