file system problem...
 

Hi,
I am using linux for 2 months and i am a newbie to it. I've got windows xp along with redhat linux 9 on my machine. Recently i've installed NTFS drivers for my linux for accessing the windows partition. The mishap happened when i am trying to copy a file from windows partition to linux. It copied almost all of the file, which is actually 700MB and at the end the system got frozen. I've restarted the system and before booting, the system prompted for file system maintenance that it had found a bad file sector in the /ext2 file system. I've typed 'yes' at the prompt, and then the letter 'y' scrolled all through the screen. This went on for almost a day and i've tried to rebooted the system again which prompted the same thing which happened before. I've tried all the ways and finally ended up reinstalling the entire redhat linux.
Is there a way in linux to prevent copying files with bad sectors? I am scared now for copying anything. Can anyone help me find the exact reason for this?

thanks,
siva