Thanks everyone!
Just a quick response as I am about to depart for the salt mines.
BOFH - No, I have a couple of Maxtor drives in a dual boot config. I can't remember which one has Win XP on it, but one is about 9 months and the other is about 6 months old. Not necessarily a guide to life expectancy, of course!
unclenelli - No, I don't have a zip drive so that particular horror can be ruled out.
shuttlebus - I'll investigate the "Turn off hard drive after etc", this evening.
Thanks again, Gents. Must go to work now as my bank balance and the Inland Revenue expect no less of me. Just about to power down but will remove the side panel first to see what's what.
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