Ipod Mini "Input/Output Error" while tryiing to delete files

Hi!

I've got a quite old Ipod Mini 4GB (I think about 4,5 years now). I am from Germany so I am sorry if my English isn't the best.

My Problem:

I tried to synchronizie my iPod with Itunes 8 on a Mac (newest version), yesterday. There was a problem while synchronizing and iTunes told me that the iPod has to be restored. Ok I tried to so ... But always while restoring iTunes stop working and I have to force iTunes to quit (I waited about half an hour) ... I did so a few times, tried to use another usb-port, restarted my macbook... But nothing could solve the problem. So today I read that I could use the harddriveutility(I hope thats the correct translation) from my mac to delete the harddrive and then restoring it with iTunes. I tried to do it once, then the Partition on the iPod was gone and said "Input/Output Error" (and something like "While deleting the Medium an error occured"). I tried to recover it with iTunes again and again iTunes just stops working (the progressbar(?) doesn't move - again I waited about half an hour)... Also when I try again to delete the iPod mini with the harddriveutility it shows the same "input/output error".

Is there anything more I can do? I know my iPod is quite old now, but it worked fine till yesterday and never felt or something. Is it possible the Harddrive is broken?
Are there opportunities to solve the problem in Windows (XP/Vista)?

Thank you four your help.
Kevin