A LITTLE BACKGROUND: I've been taking pictures since 1958 when my grandmother bought me my first camera, a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye. I like to think that those simple beginnings brought me to where I am today. I currently sell my work domestically and internationally through two websites. I'm self-trained but have taken a class here and there on lighting techniques and darkroom operations. With the dawn of digital imaging, I have left the darkroom in favor of digital editing.

THE EMOTION OF PHOTOGRAPHY: I now have the time (I'm retired) to travel and explore with my cameras. While I have been known to take more than 5,000 photos in a single day, I try to be selective with my scenes. The only time I take a large number of shots is when photographing wildlife. That said, I have spent hours in a single location; shooting from different angles and changing light. The overriding factor in this is how I felt about the scene. What was I thinking, feeling, and remembering while I viewed the subject? There is a line in the Star Trek IV "The Voyage Home" where the testing computer asks Spock "How do you feel?" That is how I approach my photography. I take notes about the scene and what I was feeling and why I stopped to take those photos. I do the same thing in post-production processing. What I felt plays a part in how I crop the scene and adjust the lighting.
Last year I began writing stories and poetry to mate with my photographs. All of those works have been copyrighted and are now being published into a series of photo/poetry books. Here is an example: "Abandoned Buckboard"

THOUGHTS? COMMENTS?

I wish you the best... but like the flu and the flu shot, prevention is possible. A tragic lesson that I learned the hard drive hard way two decades ago... now on a monthly basis I clone both my photo and my main [C:] drive. Also before Microsoft's [so called] operating system upgrades i do a "restore point."
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/create-a-system-restore-point-77e02e2a-3298-c869-9974-ef5658ea3be9

If you do not feel up to the hardware or cloning tasks, find a friend or neighbor or local High-school teen who is talented... ask the science instructor. My grandson was one of those kids at 12 y-old and earned money in his small home town repairing computers; not uncommon in this world where kids have computers from early years.

" authorized dealer & had new hard drive put in," That "authorized dealer" was authorized by you to charge you dollars when you signed the paper requesting work. There are many you-tube how2 videos. If you still have your old hard some of the information may be recoverable.

Installing a back up hard drive system is a simple task especially in our world of small solid state drives. I have a photo and main drive within my computer and a hot boot unit mounted in a CD/DVD hole. Insert a "backup drive" clone the main or photo drive, remove it, and store it safe.

Parts Needed: [Amazon] Syba Internal Dual Bay Tray Less Hot Swap Mobile Rack for Two 2.5" Sata III HDD or SSD [$36]... also StarTech.com 3.5" to 5.25" Front Bay Mounting Bracket w/ Mounting Screws [$6]
Crucial MX500 2TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD, [$80] And a small Phillips screwdriver.

There are free cloning programs or a simple to use one now on sale at Ashampoo.