Tom, yes, I plan to buy a large flash drive. I didn't realise most have a synch programme. I'll look into that.

Dave, thanks for chiming in here. I definitely get your point about backups. laugh

The noise was inside the box, and - as I recall - was a horrible grinding sound. It began suddenly and repeated two or three times, after I'd turned off and then rebooted the computer. When I turned the computer on the next morning, however, the noise didn't re-occur, nor has it since (knock on wood).

The PC is a Dell Dimension 9150, about 4 years old.

Donna


Honour the Earth. Without it, we'd be nowhere.

Life is too important to take seriously.