Well, so much for that...

I managed to save some stuff from my hard drive. Not all my documents, which appear to have been erased, but I got the fanfic I was working on, and a few other things. I might be able to get a bit more. I don't think I will actually be able to copy the contents of my current hard drive onto a new one, partly because it's on its last legs and partly because of all the copy-protected folders and whatnot.

Since I have a Dell warranty (although I don't know if it still covers replacement parts like these), I can try calling them and getting a new hard drive, which may be free or at reduced cost and will have the usual software suite installed on it already. But I don't think they'll give me a higher-capacity one than I had before, and if I go out and buy my own, it might be more durable than this one.

Well, first I'll see if I can get a new one on warranty. If not, I'm definitely getting my own.