Windows 7: Win7 destroys hard drive

Hi, I'm having a hell of a problem with Windows 7 and need help.
I received Windows 7 Pro dvd in October 2009 (Corporate retail)
I have a fairly new PC with 160 gig SATA C: drive and 120 gig IDE D: drive.
I install Windows 7 on SATA drive.
I goto all hardware sites and get latest Windows 7 drivers and install them.
I am a C/C++ developer so I install Borland Builder5, Watcom and MinGW as I use them all.
I also play the odd FPS games for relaxing

Now for a period of time week, several weeks maybe, Windows 7 works 100%, no problems what so ever.
Then suddenly the PC will freeze, maybe in middle of a game, maybe while browsing the net or just testing a program.
Sometimes if I press Alt+Ctrl+Del the Task Manager menu appears and from there I get out of the problem.
BUT.... and this is where the problems come in...
Most times, after pressing Alt+Ctrl+Del nothing happens, you can press as many times as you like but nothing happens, keyboard and mouse are still active.
This I now know is disastrous and I know at this point that Windows 7 has destroyed my hard drive as the only way out is to manually restart the PC using the on/off button.
Now when the PC tries to reboot it says 'Invalid Media' after a while and stops.
At this point the Repair disk is useless as it only offers a 3 stage Chkdsk and not a 5 stage as required.
I install an old 80 gig hard drive with Windows Xp on it, boot that and set a schedule for the faulty hard drive to be chkdsk (scan for bad sectors) on next boot.
I reboot the PC, and the 5 stage chkdsk runs, takes about an hour.
Now if I boot this Windows 7 drive it says 'NTLDR is missing' and now I put in my repair disk and install the image backup I made soon after the original installation.
At this point everything works 100% again, until next time.

1. Have have tried a new hard drive.
2. I have replaced the motherboard.
3. I have replaced the memory.
4. I have upgraded to a 650 watt PSU from a 450 watt.

I do not have too many things installed on this PC as its a work horse.
I have Avast antivirus which reports all ok.

This crash procedure has now happened 7 times and if I do not solve it soon, I'm going back to Xp as I tried that during December and January and that worked 100% no problems at all.

Any idea's or help would be greatly appreciated as I really like Windows 7 and would like to stick to it.

Joe.

Please list the drivers you are installing and complete your hardware profile if you have not already done so. I suspect that you are using an nVidia-based chipset and have installed some chipset software that is incompatible. What you are experiencing is indicative of a BIOS/chipset/driver incompatibility. Removing one of these factors by way of a BIOS or driver update is likely to solve the issue. One last question -- AHCI or ATAPI mode for the SATA drive?

Thanks for the reply, looks like there is hope

I did complete the profile when I registered but here it is again:
Type: Intel P4 - Core 2 Duo
PSU: 650 watt CoolMaster (original was 450 watt)
CPU: E6850 - 3 gig CPU
Mobo: Gigabyte EP43-UDL3 (original was Intel Dragontail Peak)
Memory: 4 gigs Samsung 800mhz (original was Kingmax)
Graphics: nVidia 8800GT512
Mouse: Logitech G5
Monitor: Acer 19" LCD
C: Drive: 160 gig SATA Seagate (original was Samsung)
D: Drive: 120 gig IDE

Drivers.
Mobo: As recommended by gigabyte site. (did not use cd supplied)
nVidia: 196.21
Mouse: Logitech_G5_Setpoint480.exe

ATAPI

Just want to add also that the first 3 or 4 times it crashed, I did complete new installations from scratch.
It was only after December that I was informed about the image option and went back to Windows 7.

[edit]
LOL, just seen the 'My System Specs' at the bottom - nice touch