Since closure of the practice is imminent (within 18 months), replacing the machine is not on the wish list! The basic patient administration is on paper and the computer is essentially for emails and the lab results that are stored on the machine (and backed up regularly) the machine is not absolutely key to the running of most day-to-day activities. There is another machine available to access such data in absolute emergencies. But I personally would advocate a new machine too…!
There is not… Thanks for the suggestion though
Ah, you’re working for that “All creatures great and small” vet 
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Married to her…
Once again, thank you to all the contributors to this discussion. The decision has been made to increase RAM to 8GB and swap out the old rusty rings for an SSD. 150€ (ex. VAT) is a relatively small investment and should give the machine sufficient urge and reliability to get us to the closure of the practice — ironically due to forced automation, e-reporting and external bookkeeping, all things not needed until now.
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Make a backup of everything that you put work into immediately. Preferably yesterday.
Photos with precious memories vanishing along with a broken hard disk is painful, but totally avoidable. This is a very common thing.
As already noted, this machine is very regularly backed up; that which is not immediately backed up is available online.
And the new memory and disk are ordered and on their way… The machine has been running for over 13 years — I’m sure we can drag another week out of it. SMART reports it passing all tests even if I do note some write errors.
The upgrades are in place, 8Gb instead of 4Gb RAM and a shiny! new SSD. And what a difference. Only problem now is trying to get the directories to show their French names instead of English ones (didn’t get it working on the old config either)
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