My HDD corrupts my files!! WHY?

[Fedele]

I am posting on HDD section, but I don't think it is a HDD problem, It must be something else.....Anyway:

I have a Maxtor 40 gig 5400 RPM drive, WIN XP PRO SP1. The drive seems to be fine because I have run all the manufacturer tests (MAXTOR DISKCHECK or something) , and it says the drive is fine. I consistently have to reinstall XP evry 30 days because one of my system files gets corrupted in the system32 folder. I have updated the BIOS, installed XPSP1, , changes the IDE cables, installed a new maxtor drive almost exactly like this ine and it did the same thing, I have looked everywhere for a solution. OH THG gurus HELP ME!

"It's way better to have 100 idiot clients than to have one idiot boss."

 

[lhgpoobaa]

hmmm. doesnt sound good.

Could be a number of cauzes. You should check the following:

1. Test your ram with MEMTEST86. memory corruption can be subtle and insideous, warping files and your registry.
2. IDE controller problems, can happen on certain boards, also associated with FSB overclocking.
3. Overlength cables. Are your IDE cables 18" long? Many stores sell longer ones that are beyond the OFFICIAL length. Such cables can cauze errors.
4. Bent/broken IDE pins. all ok i assume?
5. Data integrity from drive -> cable -> controller. I found a useful way to check for this. You need a 500mb or so collection of random files (mp3's are good), and a copy of ARJ32, a dos based archiver.
You use 'arj32 a archive.arj' to archive the collection of files into 1 large archive, then use the 'arj32 t archive.arj' command to test the archive. Any data corruption thats occuring between the drive and the controller soon shows up as nasty CRC ERRORS.

Good luck.

<b><i>The Very Hungry Caterpillar</i> - George W. Bush's favorite childhood book.
Note: This book was first published a year after Mr Bush graduated from College.</b>