I've already said I won't reformat.

There's about 50gb of ♥♥♥♥ on here that I just can't get rid of, for a plethora of reasons, and I haven't the room to back it up anywhere.

Microsoft is full of idiots, contacting them would be less helpful than having Pyro shove his "everything can be solved by reformatting" ♥♥♥♥ in my face.

Your HDD is damaged. try to defrag, but that most lkely wont help..
This looks like physical damage to me, so you dont need to reformat, after some time it will die itself anyway, so your best call is to back it up.

That doesn't sound right, he can access his HDD fine with explorer, he only has problems when he accesses it through some programs.

I really have no idea what the problem could be though, it sounds like something messed up badly anyway.

I kinda agree with Tucker that reformatting sounds the best idea.

He'd be having a lot more issues than this if his HDD was busted. Venn, I am considering mailing you a goddamn 60 gb HDD just because you're stupid.

That would be positively stupendous.

I'd finally be able to format and throw Windows 7 on this ♥♥♥♥

To me it sounds like you need a new computer, but honestly I'd seek better advice before doing something drastic.

What makes you think I'd need a new computer?

Technically, the issue could be almost any where.
But highly unlikely(what are the odds of the CPU messing up over and over again without obvious BSODs..

I like the install Win 7 solution.
That seems easier to fix than this bizarre(obviously explorer problem).

Also, try non-explorer file explorers just to confirm it's explorer's fault.

Finally, try to check for updates(don't forget that in order to maintain a MS monopoly, IE is integrated into explorer).

Whacha mean?

Just try something that doesn't use the Windows Explorer interface to browse files.

Most FTP clients have a separate file browser.

File:// to a directory, I think should use it's own system in Firefox(try this and see if it crashes Firefox)

Are you saying for $20 you can't afford a pack of 50 DVD-Rs to store your harddrive? (4.7 GB per Disc)

If you're willing to get rid of some stuff (a little bit) then you could get a pack of 10 for $10. (It'd be 47 GB).

C'mon don't be stupid. I bet you have some DVD-Rs just laying around anyway.

Also, Vista has a great utility for backing things up, and I'm sure it's compatible with Win7 RC.
Formatting is definitely not the end of your computer. It's just a temporary state.

zalo you don't know how formatting works do you? When you format, you write zeroes to the drive. As in all data is gone.

I think he meant the end end of a computer.

And formatting does not erase data completely.
Quick formats just delete the root directory and partition data.

The files are just hidden.

As in recoverable.

Even if you write 0s, there is some sort of binary magnetic analysis. Or something.

protip bro don't believe everything you see on CSI

Okay no one said quick format they said format. And if you write 0s there is not MAGNETIC ANALYSIS. Magnetic analysis is kind of how the drive reads data. MAGNETIC ANALYSIS IS RETURNING 000000000000000000000000000 SIR