he DVD drive was working OK 3 days back, now takes up to 5 minutes to check 'properties' or explore even an empty disk. With several thousand pictures to sort this is a pain, in 3 hours I had not saved one file.
Make sure that you dont have all the photo's in a single folder as this can cause you some headaches that will slow down your machine. If you do have them in a single folder then move them into logical sub folders as parsing a large folder takes time and memory.
How much disk space is on your C: drive, if it is very low then the chances are that your computer is grinding to a halt as it is having a hard time using virtual memory and finding space for temporary files.
You may wish to invest in a USB external HDD, you can copy your pictures onto this to free up extra space on your main system HDD but also if you do wish to upgrade/repair your OS you can detach the USB drive knowing your pictures will be safe whilst you do this.