Software → Not sure of where the problem comes from

I have a problem with a ton of files showing up as BOOT files when I run Perfect Disk 7 and since they are marked as boot PD will NOT defrag them. This started with a complete reinstall of XP Pro SP2 and my normally used software.
First I had a problem not being able to remove any MS Office programs. So I figured I'd reload the OS on a another drive. That went fine. At the same time I figured I'd up the storage capacity of my main/master drive from 80GB to 200GB and bought a Maxtor DiamondMax 10 drive with 16MB cache. I used True Image 9 build 2337 to image the new install to a NAS system on my LAN and then installed the 200GB drive as the master drive in the system. I then ran in the TI9 image from the reinstalled 80GB drive. Everything seemed to go OK but then when using Perfect Disk 7 build 46 I see a TON of files marked as BOOT and PD will not defrag them. These files are mostly program .exe, .dll and setting files from program folders and this happens on every partition, which there are 3 (C, D, E) on the 200GB drive. I have re-imaged the drive twice and after the image is loaded it seems fine for a day and then after loading some other programs and then running PD to defrag the drive I get these Excluded BOOT files on every drive.
Has anyone else seen anything like this?? I'm wondering if it's a OS program or a hard drive problem. Right now I am loading another image created just before I install the 200GB drive and will check it when I get home, I started the image load and came to work.
Thanks for any help.

Have you tried a Boot Time Defrag?

Yeah I have tried everything I know of. These files marked as boot have nothing to do with booting the PC. Most of them are the .exe files from programs like my CAD program and Photoshop CS2 and those programs are on the D partition. Files on the C partition with this BOOT marking are random files. Some from the Windows system32 folder some from the Docs & Setting folder and subfolders and some from random programs in the Program Files folder. Strangest thing I have ever run up against. The only thing I can think of is the NEW 200GB drive I got is bad, I.E. has bad sectors on it. If it wasn't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all. I'm going home to fix this one way or another. I'll run the newest Maxtor Maxblast on it and see if it comes up with any errors.
Thanks for the reply.

I'm a bit confused here (as usual). PD always defragments my boot files (see above). What you mean by "Since they are marked as boot PD will NOT defrag them."

That's just it Howie PD always defragged the boot files before and usually they only show up on the %System% partition and are never marked as Excluded. PD always come back with a series of zero for all operations, 0 fragmented files, 0 Metadata, whatever. The only thing I can come up with is I loaded a reg cleaning program, Eusing Free Registry Cleaner(So I could get away from Norton Win Doctor), and it seems like everytime I run that program I end up with files marked as BOOT and Excluded when doing a defrag. I have come home to see how the image load went and I'm using the offending PC right now. I have not run that program since the re-image and so far I don't have those Excluded BOOT files in PD.
I'm going to use the PC for the rest of the day, do a defrag at the end of the day and see if any files are marked as Excluded and Boot, If not then I'm going to make another image of the drive and then run that program and do a defrag and see what's up. If at that time I get these BOOT/Excluded files that PD won't defrag it's Bye Bye to that reg cleaner and a re-load of the last image. Thank GOD for TI.
Thanks Howie.

How true!

Well these locked marked as BOOT files are back. I am fit to be tied. I'm deleting, recreating partitions and reloading again from scratch.

Well after a full reload and updating from the MS site I still have them. Here's a SS of PD window and a PDF of the PD report.
The only thing I can think of is the drive is bad. I tried to run the Maxtor PowerMax 4.22 diagnostic on it and it won't detect the drive. I let that utility run for 20 minutes and it never came off the Detecting Drives screen.
I think I'm just going to reinstall my old drive and be done with it.

I reinstalled my original drive, which I had loaded a image of one of my NEW installs and it had those LOCKED BOOT files on it. So on a whim I uninstalled PD build 46 and reinstalled the original Version 7. Did a defrag and all those LOCKED BOOT file got unlocked and moved. I'm going to install the new 200GB drive again and try that.
I have a report into Raxco about this problem and will follow up on it with them. If I do anything I load up to build 34 as I never had any problems with that build.

This problem has been resolved. See this thread.
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