I want more hunters in western NY. The white tail deer are out of control. This year alone my brother and sister hit a deer that jumped in front of their car at night. Verrrry expensive to have the car fixed. That's just this year. In years past many other accidents have occurred. I Article in the newspaper that car insurance companies are raising rates here because the deer/vehicle encounters have skyrocketed in the last few years. Many people lose their lives in these accidents. The local parks and wildlife refuges hate the deer because they eat everything in sight. Deer do not let any new trees grow unless they are fenced off and this is stopping the forests from regenerating. The lack of small trees and undergrowth has further reduced the rest of wildlife. Deer are displacing just about everything else. This is wildlife and conservation people that hate the deer, not big business. Hunting is declining as a sport. Not enough hunters anymore to keep them under control and young people find new electronic hobbies more interesting than hunting. No wolves or other predators either. Hunting and other license fees fund wildlife services. With hunting on the decline, revenue to our wildlife services is on the decline. If you're a hunter, come to western NY where the hunting is easy. Everyone that I know is a hunter has found it pretty easy to bag their limit.

As it happens, things have changed. The technician Dell sent came with the replacement hard drive (with pre-installed XP and drivers). He installed it - booted - and the same hard drive warning occurred. Turns out it was my second internal hard drive (that I use for data) that was going bad. It was a good thing I already had the 2TB replacement. So he put the 2TB drive in - returned my original hard drive - and all functioned well - no hard drive error messages. Now I do have work ahead of me - but this changes the nature of it. Much better scenario - but still requires thinking through. There are probably just a few video files on the second internal hard drive that I don't have copies of. I think they're still accessible - so I will either get a docking station - or better yet an enclosure (since I will need one anyway - as I'll describe later) to put it in - and see if I can transfer those video files to my new 2TB internal drive. I think it makes sense to test that drive to see what's wrong with it - if it's repairable by Windows XP (I think if I run chkdsk there are possibilities to repair some damage?). Should I do this? Or are there other methods to safely test out the health of my hard drive? It is also a Western Digital. The timing of the hard drive failure is now making more sense. I had spent the previous weekend backing up lots of data files onto this second internal 1.5 TB hard drive. I think some of those transferred Tivo files might be problematic. (I say that for 2 reasons - when I've tried to defrag the hard drive, I recall a few files that couldn't be defragged - and while it was hard to see the path, I think they were the Tivo videos. Also, there were a few Tivo videos that failed to work properly when I tried to run VideoRedo to remove commercials. Some just seemed to be bad files - of course, I don't recall which those ones were - but it makes me wonder if it's the sources of the problem on that second hard drive.) Next step is call Dell - I bought that second hard drive from them 1 1/2 yrs ago. It has a 3 yr warranty. I'm not sure if the warranty will be honored by Dell or Western Digital (the brand of drive). So I figure I'll be getting a replacement 1.5 TB hard drive - which I can either install internally - use it as program drive or data drive. I can use the original 500GB drive externally. Or maybe I should keep it the way it is now. Original 500GB internal hard drive, second 2 TB internal hard drive - and put the replacement 1.5 TB hard drive in an enclosure and use for back-ups. One reason I'd like to use the 2TB drive as a program/boot drive (or master drive - I'm not sure of the language) is bc. it's supposed to be a faster drive - Western Digital Black Caviar 2TB drive - 7200rpm and 64MB Cache that was a bit pricier, but I thought it was worth it for quality and speed. It's this one: http://www.amazon.co...ref=oss_product (although I paid less than the price listed online) I'm new enough at all this that I don't understand everything about hard drive speed. I think that a larger drive can potentially slow things down a bit as it has to work to see date over a larger area/amount of data - but that the 7200rpm and 64MB cache will offer more speed - and the reviews suggest this thing is fast. I'd love any guidance in weighing these factors as I decide which to make the primary drive. I also want to clarify what to do with this drive. I don't know how to partition. And if I did, how large a partition should I create on this 2TB drive - if it were to hold the operating systems and programs? I don't know how much room that takes - and how to be sure to take the appropriate sections of my original drive to place into this partition. I can figure out what size each portion of my original hard drive is? I just don't know which folders go into the partition for programs/software? I don't want to leave any out - and I'm concerned I will miss some folders bc. I do not recognize what they are. If I partition the drive, I gather I don't clone it - but do it in sections. I also don't know if I should format it first. Or partition first. Disk management is fairly new to me although I did format a couple of drives. I didn't get into partitions and copying from one drive to another. Does it make sense to use this 2TB drive (which I bought for it's speed and good functioning) as the main drive? If so, I don't know the order of operations? Clone my original drive to this drive? Format and partition first (in which case I'll need to know how to get the proper system files vs. data files into the right partitions). I think I know that if I make this 2TB the master, I have to either switch the cables - but since I think they won't stretch to the second hard drive bay, I'll probably have to swap them. I am so relieved not to have lost my original drive. Although it consumed the better part of last weekend, I did learn plenty - and feel more confident cutting my "recovery" teeth on recovering data from the bad second drive which only has some video at stake. Just as a reminder my original drive has about 350GB data. Thanks everyone. Lynn. PS - I did learn a couple of important things from this technician. First, he updated the bios in my computer (which was several versions old). And he told me where to go to update the bios on my daughter's computer. That was useful. It's a question I've had for a while when I see people on this forum ask whether someone has updated their bios.

Hi Doc, Thanks for the thoughtful question. I am trying to walk again and trying hard to enjoy life after my husband's suicide, 53 days ago. Since his death happened after an incident of domestic violence in which I did not how to react, I am still confused. My doctor thinks that my husband could have murdered me and commit suicide. His son also thinks the same, but my heart is still in denial, how could this man who said he loved me ended up doing something like that. My recovery will not beging until I finish executing his will and take off from his children at all. My husband was a health professional, he was abused by an older cousing when he was a child, was a captain in Vietnam and had a very unstable life in every aspect you want to look at it. He had many lawsuits when he had his practices and after when he was working for others. The last complaint was about 2004 when I met him. He was introduced in the clinic I was a patience as a very nice man. The woman who introduced as in a blind date told me he had some health problem (stomach) and problems with his children, but he loved them very much. After dating 2 years I told him I did not wanted to continue the relationship because his grown up children did not respected me and he was also unable to draw the line between his girlfriend/fiance and the wife either. His daughter was 35 and his was 38 at the moment we married. They never left him alone. They always wanted something. His son was still living at the house when we got marry and he only left the next day we came back from the honeymoon. Since I was working in a different city during the week and coming home on the weekend, his son always managed to come and sleep in during the week. His daughter required the inheritance before our marriage and promised not the request anymore more after that. Unfortunately, she continued requiring money with different threats and strategies. Last years she obtained 13 thousand dollars from my husband and this year in March and April she came to the house to "live in " for two weeks expecting that my husband fixed her car and gave her a monthly allowance. She was briefly married between 2005-2006 and she was still requirind money. After many conversations and arguments we agree with my husband to give her an allowance of $400 a month. My husband was very depressed with all this situation, he felt bad about his children, he was worried about them, and he also felt bad about himself for not achieving more in life. Two days before dying he said I have worked 40 years and I have nothing. That was not true. He only saw life through a dark filter, he was unable to draw a line with his children. His son was convicted and jailed twice for DWI. Hi spent three years in prison. His daughter was on morphine for extreme pain that over 15 doctors could not diagnose. My husband considered himself a failure. Hw would not even like the blinds openm or get out to the porch on weekends. I really did my best. I tried to give him love, but the family system my husband had with his children was too big for me. His Psychiatric has been of great help in my understanding. My husband had a personality disorder, was ambivalent, had great anger due to the abuse and PTSD. In the last meeting his doctor told me that my husband only could love his children and no one else and that he was literally married to them. It's sad but I have to accept that there was no much for me in my marriage, that my husband was so sick that he could not see me, neither hear my pleads to save his life. He was totally decided to end up his life that day. After holding him for hours, he finally got one bullet in a gun a shot himself in front of his son in the backyard. I left the house and the city that same night. Two weeks ago when I was in the front of the house organizing things, his son showed up in the drive up and frightened me to the point that my body was frozen, rigid. The police told him not to come without my permission because I was in charge of the house.I called for help and there were no neighbors around.He left an intimidating message in my phone. Next day, my lawyer called the police and I file a complaint that was labelled harassment and family violence. So, How I am doing? I am trying to recover, I am trying to understand that my husband was sick and that his son is a danger to my own life. I am trying to execute the will and get out of this nightmare. I am so confused, sad and angry. I have not had the time to mourn my husband. The thoughest part is to be responsible for a vacant home with 82 guns that with the help of other people managed to storage in 2 vaults. My heart beats fast when I have to go to the house because he died there and because I am scared. I really hope I can recover. His clothes are still there, I think the end of this will be me resigning to my homestead rights and return the house to the children. Even 100 miles away from the house, I still can't sleep. Once in a while I take an anxiety pill, but every night I need a sleeping pill. My only consolation is that my husband's sister and her husband understand the situation and they told me they love me. I am alone in the US, only my children (medical and engineering students) are here with me. And you guys, have been wonderful in this forum. Sorry for the long posting. pucky

Well after an overnight in the hospital I am a bit confused but certainly more comfortable. Also I am sorry to hijack a cooking forum with my health drama. I initially just wanted recommendations for post stomach bug eating - thinking that was where I was at. In that vein I just had cup of tea and a half English muffin with a tidge of butter. On my way home I bought lemon ices, watermelon, a cucumber and the aforementioned English muffins. Somehow the hospital thought a good breakfast for someone who hasn’t kept down food for a week was eggs, sausages, bran muffin, orange juice, milk and a tiny thing of watermelon. I ate the watermelon and a piece of dry toast. Evidently I have a cyst on my pancreas (probably from a long ago bout with pancreatitis) which may or may not have caused my current issues. And may or may not need to be dealt with... Thank you all for your kind concern!