Blue screen, slow start up, eventually comes to the desktop

I thought, and still do, that I have an HDD problem. It is geting worse since I installed Nikon NX2 and a Canon Pixma 870 printer for the family. I have had many problems with start up and opening the super drive on the top bar. I get the "wheel of fortune" color set and I have to force quit.

I have had to force quit several times and the start up is getting slower. It still starts up though although it takes about 10 minutes. It used to take a few seconds.

Does this sound like a hard drive problem or something I can fix. I have disc warrior but if I can't get the drive to open I have to take the computer apart. Do I have anywhere to go?

Have you tried tech Tools? I guess its much like Disk Warrior - would find any hard drive bad sectors.
When my Hard disk failed it showed several bad sectors before actually failing. You could try reverting to pre Nikon NX2 and Canon Pixma printer and see if that makes a difference. You could try downloading the latest Canon Pixma 870 driver - or make sure it is one compatible for your system - - don't panic tough even a HDD problem can be fixed - - by putting in a new hard drive - - If you have an iMac I posted previously in Introductions about changing a hard drive on my iMac. If it comes to that but its likely a software conflict

I came from Mac to PC to Mac for my photography business. I am working on a MacPro and loving it. As there had been a long time in between I had forgotten some aspects of Mac back channels, which I enjoy dabbling in, the registry, and just enjoying the experience.

I had forgotten the shift button for safe boot for permissions. This has solved the problems. In some way. However, I can make it run perfectly but I have 2 questions: How do I get the thing to run correctly more than once a week with fsck -fy with an unmounted disc and how do I figure out where the problem is in the HDD. Now I am aware that the HDD is good. NO problems that I am aware of. It runs great as far as I can tell. I may have hay for brains though as I don't know what to look for when these slow down problems arise. It has been faster since switching to a new ISP. You see, my photography is the priority for clients and I can make it all stand tall, but, I am maxed to understanding how make it superior. I am willing to update the processor. This is running on Snow Leopard now. A couple updates but I bought this 5 or less years ago.

I am running 9 Gigs of RAM and am just questioning. I don't know how to frame my questions except to give details enough that someone can answer my problem. I need to know how to frame the question correctly so that I don't drag this community down with stupidity and ignorance from me. I just love photography and have worked for decades in a darkroom and this is so different.

"how do I figure out where the problem is in the HDD. Now I am aware that the HDD is good. NO problems that I am aware of. It runs great as far as I can tell."

If the HDD is good - there's no problem. If there was bad sector you can't tell where it is. Leave as is and just crack on with your work. You have a high spec Mac Pro and loads of RAM and good ISP .

If running slow you can always back up your work and re format but sounds like you're wanting Mac to keep to your own expectation of speed. Use Time Macine to back up.
If you have a load of images on it you could be running our of space on the drive?