The drive is probably fine. This message is usually indicative of the infamous "IDE header" problem, whereby the IDE connector on the mainboard of the Empeg may require resoldering.

Only way to know is to open it up and have a looksee. If you have a laptop computer, you can transfer the drive to it and boot/run the IBM Drive Fitness Test floppy (downloadable from them) to test the drive for impending failures (Assuming IBM; if it's a Fujitsu drive, then something different will be needed).

Cheers