all very helpful answers...thank you very much!

i think i'm ready to 'give it a go' again when i get a chance to download the ISO and try to shrink that system partition down to 75G or so.
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thanks for your reply! sorry to go a little OT here, but apparently i can't message you until i have been a member for three days...

while i do know my way around a computer somewhat, i'm not up...

hi kari,

i am trying to use method 1 on my laptop. i had tried to use method 2 on the existing system a little over a year ago, but got locked out of the system. i didn't have time to mess with...