Hi Philip S.,

My IT expert has just left and everything's
working fine. I've learned a good lesson
from all of this on what not to do.
Thank You for your contributions
and advice. I will take it all on board.
My computer has Windows 10 .

For me this discussion has now run its course.
I hope that my experience will help others
on the forum to be a bit more cautious when
they get unsolicited phone calls. As ttbn advises -
just hang up. Which is what I intend to do from now
on.

Once again - Thanks to you all.

Philip S: Jayb Not many cheaper computers have two drives.

No, but it's so easy to put one in.

Turn the computer off, take the plug out of the back. Get your book & look at the mother board diagram.
Buy the drive. It comes with the cable.
Open the computer. Four screws at the back & take the panels off.
pull on of the spare drive faces off & slide the drive in. Fix it in with the four little screws. Put the Face plate back.
Connect the Power cable, then connect the drive cable usually red but can be black or blue to the drive the other end goes to the same place the other two cables go to. You'll see it.
Put the Panels back on the sides screw it back up.
Plug the computer back in & turn it on. the Computer will instantly recognize you have a new drive. You may have to format it, but most drives come formatted now-a-days.
That's it you are all set up & ready to go.

Actually I never owned a propriety Computer. I've always built my own since about 94. that way I'm about two years ahead & about $1500 better off than buying one off the shelf.

My first was a C64, of course, then an XT I built with a whopping 20 megabyte drive. then a 120 Megabyte drive, then a 286, then a 486 with a 500 Megabyte Drive & onto a 1 Gigabyte Drive. WOW! Now an old out of Date H81 motherboard with a 256Gb SST, 1 Tb WD, Internals, 500Gb External & 16 Gb of 3 Mem. It was a M97 but it stopped working just before Xmas. Just for the Compophiles on here.

Cont.
I'm waiting for the new Intel CPU due out in a month or two & probably go to 32 Gb of 4. Memory. I don't play games. I'm totally useless at them. but I do put my old home movies & travels on DVD & that sort of thing. One has to do something in Retirement.

Oh, I just brought myself an AC/DC TIG Welder to do some Aluminum Welding Projects I been putting off for a couple of years. I love Xmas.

Sounds like you are buying yourself some nice Christmas present.

It is better to have a portable external drive for backup than use a 2nd drive built into a computer, that way you can hide it in case main computer is stolen.

Philip S: It is better to have a portable external drive for backup than use a 2nd drive built into a computer.

Yes a 1 Tig external D Drive is a good idea as well as an external E Drive for Backups if you are worried about going into the insides. Just keep the C Drive for the OS & Programmes. That way if there is ever a problem you just reformat & reinstall. Your Files are never affected.

Actually, I think I'll be doing that on my next rebuild.