New poster not sure where to post hardware or software

Here is my problem: I am running WinXP Pro SP3, Intel P4, 2.6 ghz and 2 gb ram.
My current C drive is a Seagate 330013A - 30 GB, it is FULL! I have been having issues with the Blue screen of death. I purchased a "new" used drive Maxtor 6B300R0 300GB.

When I got the new drive, scanned and checked for errors and bad sectors not were found. I then used XXClone and copied my drive. I moved the drives in the computer making the Maxtor master and the Seagate slave.
The first day all was ok, the 2nd day I noticed that I was missing file association icons. 3rd day I decided to defrag the Maxtor just to check it out. It CRASHED! I left while it was doing the defrag, when I came back I had disk error on the screen. I tried to restart, checked BIOS everything still showing but same error.
I changed the boot sequence in the bios to boot from the Seagate. Got into windows it was not seeing the Maxtor. I then swapped the HD in the computer. System booted, could then see the Maxtor drive but I could not access it. I got an error but I don't remember what it was. Researched what it was and ran chkdsk /r. I watched while it ran and I could see it was doing something. When chkdsk finished the drive was empty! Fortunately I only lost a few e-mails.
I downloaded Seatools Windows and DOS- in windows both drives fail the smart test, but passed in dos. The Maxtor drive passed the remaining tests.
I have since reformatted the Maxtor drive using Disk Management. Did some more cleanup on my 30GB drive. I moved my documents and e-mail storage to a SATA drive that I have connected thru a PCI card. So if it craches again I don't lose new stuff like I did last time.

Yesterday I ran XXClone again. Everything has been running fine. Now I just noticed that I am missing the icons again. This was the first thing that happened before it crashed the last time.

any help or ideas is appreciated! Thanks in advance

 

Re: hardware or software issues???

Thanks for the response, I read several places that the Seatools for Windows can give false SMART fails, so that is why I tested with the DOS version also. If the drive passes all the other tests in DOS and the remaining tests in windows, why would you still suspect a bad drive?
Since my original post I downloaded BurnIn Test all tests passed.

 

Thanks for the thought. The jumpers are correct. It does not matter if I have the Maxtor drive as Mastor or slave it is missing icon association. Not all but some.
I am back to using my Seagate drive as primary, since I don't have a definite reason as to why the Maxtor would do what it is doing. I am still looking for advice if any, could it be the XXclone??? Thanks

 

I use xxClone and have never encounteredthat problem with it. You DID use the CoolTools option to make the target (Maxtor) bootable, didn't you?

 

Yes I did both times. The drive will boot, that is not the problem. The first day everything appears to be ok, but then the 2nd day when I look I am missing a good majority of the program accosiation icons. MS Office, Acrobat etc. What is the best DX program that would give me a the best results that it is a bad drive?

Thanks

 

Can you format the Maxtor drive then have a fresh install of windows, then just copy across the files you need, and keep the other drive as a compressed backup, or format the seagate and use it for storing the "MY Documents" on the 2nd drive

 

I can format the Maxtor, I was hoping not to have to do a fresh install, would take a lot of time to reinstall everything. Can you expalin to me how I would or could be deleting the associations? When I first start using the drive everything is there. Then the next day they are just gone. I tried to reassociate the icons I got an error, I don't remember what it was. Thanks for the input.

 

Do you still have the old drive with everything still on it?

If so, it may be worth taking an image of the drive with a different program and putting the new image on the new drive.

I would recommend PING (Partimage Is Not Ghost) for this task.

 

I am using the old drive now.

I am not using Partition magic, I have heard of it.
Can you please explain this a little more: "I would recommend PING (Partimage Is Not Ghost) for this task"

Thank you