Thanks for the welcome and tips 
I've installed Ubuntu Mate 18.04 LTS 32 bit (full, not Minimal) onto its own 80GB IDE drive and it seems to be running OK.
It wanted to install some updates, so I culled the list (unwanted office stuff etc) and it's doing the job now.
I'm not sure what lah7 means (above) about installing ddrescue and its GUI. Is Terminal the linux equivalent of the Windows command line or is it software?
Similarly, does Synaptic need to be downloaded or is it inbuilt in Ubuntu?