OK Allan. Thanks for all the help along the way. We'll be going for the new disk soon. And maybe when they set it up they will also check inside and clean it, etc., and then maybe we'll be able to enslave that old HD!
I have all my mail on gmail, so that's a big help. And most of my docs are also on my laptop. There are a lot of things that were wiped out, but so be it!
I will have to back up better and sooner in the future, though; I guess that's the lesson everyone learns from this kind of thing.
Thanks again for everything.
In peace
DrD