Thomas and Al,

I trust the drive. It has performed flawlessly under SAFE MODE.

It took a while but I finally figured out how to change it from Simple/Dynamic to Basic with a primary partition.

I still believe that it's an OS problem. Something has gone awry and is screwing access in normal operaating mode.

Its a 10,000rpm drive, just over 2 years old and one of those that comes with a 5yr warranty. I'd like to hang on to it rather than replace it with a slower 5000GB unit. Its low capacity also enforces a certain discipline on my usage.

I continue to get intermittent availability in normal operation but full access/performance under Safe Mode.

I wish I knew what OS components are involved and how to "refresh" them.

I'll keep plugging away. I've done 3 formats and 2 re-populates already. one or two more isn't a real problem. I just need to have a good reason to do it again < s >

cheers


>Jim
>>You psychic????... it lasted for the root directory level. As soon as I clicked a plus-sign to get deeper...#$@!@#%^%$#@
>>
>>I think I'lll format the sucker. But not really expecting it to work.
>
>How much time did you spent on that ? (Assuming a 120-160GB drive)
>Get a new 500 GB, test your backup by installing everything from there, work on the new drive for 2 weeks.
>
>Everything is fine ? Format that other sucker into your desperation HD - make it boot every computer you own in a separate multiboot config. Put all data recovery/backup/partitioning software/Linux direct install on it. As it will be not used any more, it might help you in a critical situation without endangering your current data.
>
>Anything important you NOW put on that drive will drive you nuts double checking and backing up!
>
>my 0.04 EUR (been there, done that...)
>
>thomas