If you have a SATA to USB cable, you can also avoid opening up the PC and finding a spare bay (if you have one) to fit the blank drive. Some software...
To my knowledge, encrypting your disk would be the way to go as mentioned above. I've listened to the stories of multiple hackers via podcasts before...
I am finally getting back to this problem after some other things required my attention. I went back to the earliest restore point on this computer....