Thanks, John. You've more or less confirmed what I told them--that it may be a partition thing affecting the computer or the external drive, voluntary or not. The system is a mix of devices, the CPU is a Sony Vaio, uses XP Home, and they haven't installed SP2--claim it slowed the computer so much that they uninstalled it. I've heard that before from others, and I can go back and read some of the SP2 discussion here at Mudcat to see if I can help them resolve that issue. I forgot to ask what firewall they use (or if they use one!) so there is more information necessary to just keep the system afloat.

SRS