I am fairly computer illiterate, and here is my problem. The hard drive (C:) on my desktop crashed and I need to replace it. I keep reading these things hoping for an explanation of slave and master, as I also have a functioning (I think) second drive (D:). Can I simply pull out the crashed C: and replace it with a new hard drive? How do I go about running my system recovery disks? Any input would be GREATLY appreciated.

As ever, Google is you friend - try typing in 'How to replace a hard drive' & you will get loads of links, many with pictures, such as this one Once installed, if you have normal recovery disks with all of your original software on, then you will be able to use them to restore from, however, be aware that some manufacturers build the full restore into a small section of the original hard drive & only give you a boot disk to start the process - for these you will need to get (probably purchase) a set of recovery disks. "I know that I'm mad, I've always been mad"

what do you mean by "crashed"??? to answer your question, yes you can swap out the "crashed" drive with the "functioning(i think)" drive. just note the jumper setting (master or slave)on the drive that you are removing, and set the new drive to the same. you should be able to boot from your recovery disk (make sure your BIOS is set to boot from CD first), then just follow the prompts. unless it is automatic, when prompted by XP install, do a full format using whatever file system that your second drive uses (NTFS or FAT32) good luck It says not to put a question here... why not?

By 'crashed,' I mean that my computer simply keeps restarting. After getting ripped off by best buy for the not-so-helpful diagnosis that my hard drive has gone bad, I figured I'd stop wasting vast amounts of money on them and try to do it myself. So how do I boot from the disk? I can't get the current computer to a functioning state... it starts to load windows and then resets (again and again). Can you explain how I might set my BIOS to boot from CD even though it won't fully start-up?

Start by checking the manual for the recovery procedure. You may not need to get into the bios, so check 1st. If you do need to enter bios, it should provide the info you need. If you do not have a manual, you can download it from Sony's site.