...and took with it my OS, my game saves, settings, etc etc. Specifically, I lost all my save games, including archives, for FO3, FNV and Skyrim...including the 1600 hour (+) FO3 fav character, and my 1400 hour (+) Skyrim character and his 800 hour sidekick.

Aside from all that, I found that after having work done on my old rig some time back, I didn't have the activation code for my old XP installment, so I had to get both a new drive and Win7...which meant at last that I could run the hi def graphics dlc's.

Now, after repairing, reloading and (urrrr) restarting, I have found that the exterior lamps in towns and villages are at basically 1 candlepower, and put out less light than the torchbugs...

Is this right? Is it supposed to be dark, or am I missing something? I've checked and tested various mods, and it seems that they are having no effect to cause the blackout, so I'm just wondering if anyone has any hints or suggestions (as well as having a good laugh at someone who neglected to archive his saves to a separate drive ).

Well never cheap out on a HDD...if you dont know anything about HDD always go Western Digital.

But if you didnt build your own PC, sorry mate.

Idk anything abt your problem but the people who do will want to know what mods your using.

Well, it was a Seagate HDD and it did last nearly 7 years, lol....

I'm still trying to pin down if there is a conflict, or if it's just a graphics setting thing on my rig.

I too highly recommend western digital (that's what i have in my homebuilt gaming pc) i've used it in another pc build until it's mobo died and it's about 4 - 5 years old and still running strong!!

Damn it lasted 2 years more than it should have

Can you give us a screen shot?