Thanks for all the help and sorry for not responding earlier. I finally had time to look into this, so went to Circuit City today and spoke to one of the Firedog people. They said that what I can do depends on whether my computer is an ATA or IDI (I know that's wrong, but something like that), which flew right over my head. He showed me the external units which were available for $39 and $69, I forgot which was for which. He said they otherwise offer the service for $100, and there's no need to buy anything. Either way I'm bringing in my computers tonight so they can tell me whether it's an ATA or the other thing, but I'm not sure if I should just let them do it or buy it myself and do it. As you can see, I'm pretty computer illiterate.

Again, thanks for all the help and I welcome thoughts!^