Pkponder - thank you for asking your son-in-law on my behalf. It may come to that. Glad to know the Windows version of my main desktop doesn't matter in terms of the NAS. I am going to use a Tivo to retrieve digital data for playing on the television. At this point, I think Tivo's can play Tivo format (which is how I record and store my video) and mpegs. I believe the Tivo is DNLA compliant device. I barely know what that is, but I think it means it can transfer different file formats. I know that I can view my digital pictures, videos and music on my television by retrieving them with my Tivo. I can also play the videos on my laptop. I have Tivo desktop software plus which can transcode any of the tivo videos to a format that can played on Ipads and ipods. Of course, I would have to change the format first. Maybe an NAS can do some of that on the fly - I have no idea. I don't think on the fly video transfer to Ipad and Ipod is that important. If my daughter is home, she has plenty of alternatives for viewing video. And if she wants to load her apple devices for travel, then we have time to get them to the right format. I think the Synology comes with it's own network operating system (which I think is some type of linux distribution). My question on the Raid will be what type. I'll have to learn the difference between Raid 0,1,5 and whatever else there is, so I can choose the appropriate type for me. Thanks. Lynn.

Bree look on the side panel or top of the case and there should be a sticker there telling you Windows XP is inside and there should be a product key listed too. Was this a new computer? Was it local built? Go to my link below and download the small SIW program. It does not need to be installed, just double click on the exe file and it will run. This will tell you so much about your computer it is amazing. On the first screen click the second choice down on the left side - Operating system. In the new window you will see it tells you if your is XP Pro or Home and if it is full retail or OEM - I suspect OEM but that is fine. This is the top line on my computer, yours would look similar and hopefully say the service pack 2 is installed. Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 Look further down the right window and record the Product key (not the serial number as that is not so important) for future reference (this is the key that should be on the sticker somewhere on the outside of your case. I would suggest confronting the vendor but at this stage we do not know what you purchased or what you paid Here is a link that might be useful: Gregory Topala's SIW program

damccoy, Thanks for the advice and I know you are right and it has been a topic of conversation many times. When I joined the site several years ago I considered the negatives. However, there are a lot of people who need my expertise in various areas where I offer suggestions, advice, help. I usually get from 10 to 30 emails a week from folks in other forums I participate on this site and from folks who lurk the site looking for help and information. I set the email address up especially for this use. I do have it spam filtered and virus checked and surprisingly, only get maybe 5 spams a month mostly from Chinese firms wanting me to sell their products. Spam hasn't been a problem since 2006 but if it does become one, I'll kill the email address. There are some people who just aren't what they say they are and they are just a handle in cyberspace. Most of the folks with real problems, especially in my area, know who I am personally. I do appreciate your advice and from reading many of your posts, I know you are genuinely trying to help!!! Thanks!!

Hmm, let's see if we can explain this for you. You cannot create an image of XP then transfer that to Win7. Why? Because you would wipe the Win 7 off the computer and have XP back again, not what is wanted. However you can back up all your personal data to either a CD, DVD, thumb drive or external drive to be copied back easily enough. Possibly most of your 'stuff' is in sub folders of My Documents so simply save My Documents. Then save your Favourites, Address Book and what ever else you need saved. Once you are satisfied that all your data has been safely saved you can insert the Win7 CD and reboot the computer. Hopefully your BIOS is set to seek the CD/DVD player first, if so simply follow along with the instructions that appear onscreen. One option offered if I remember correctly is to format the hard drive - or just the C: partition if you have the drive partitioned. hen you get the option to proceed with the install. You will have been warned that proceeding will erase all data currently on the C: drive of course. Once Win 7 is behaving nicely you can insert what ever you saved your My Documents onto and copy the contents to Documents in Win 7. My documents does not exist in Win 7 it is just Documents.