Keeping up with those critically important acronyms! The computer has two DVD drives (one is a burner). I'll look up the specs on this one before I pick it up. I agree, the data may be a wash. My ex has a friend who is pretty good at data recovery, even from dead drives, so we will have a shot at it that way if my way doesn't work.

I'll have to keep track of how long it takes to put in the OS and all of the drivers and programs and such. It'll take at least a weekend, probably more (to bring this back around to an earlier point!)

SRS