Hi Alex, I have to agree. Yesterday I spent most of the day with a replacement drive and did a full reinstall including the 43 billion windows updates :) all is now back working normally and by putting the failed drive into a spare slot I have managed to get some of my applications settings which has helped speed up the task.
I sent a donation yesterday as despite the fact we couldn't bring lazarus back from the dead it was interesting trying and I have broadened my knowledge on the inner workings of Microsoft. So for that and for your time and patience over the last few days, I thank you.