I sincerely appreciate the advice and conversation.

Got my files off the old fashion way...copied to thumb drives...as God intended...<joke light>

I intend to run a little experiment when I receive my HDD enclosure...had to order the ATA model...I'm going to attempt to repair the XP installation to see if I would have gotten away with it. I'll let you know how it goes.

Well on my way through the documentation links provided...pretty good choices...I'm relatively sure it would have taken me a while to find that equal sources.

I am glad to see the a modern system that looks so much like DOS...I feel at home already...looking forward to having the time to make the transition.

I was telling one of my clients about my plans to exit the Gates Plan...he was surprisingly interested to get away from MicroSquish.

I digress, thanks again

b.line