& it hasn't cost you anywhere as near as much is it could have. So be thankful.
You need to Perform Regular Backup's as Computers are going fail and die. A dead HDD can cost anything up to 46K to recover Data Off and if it's Stolen there is no possibility of Recovering the Data.
As the above posted has already told you the correct way to get around the current problem you now have the ability to use the existing HDD in a External Enclosure to Backup your Data off the new computer that you are going to buy to replace the destroyed on and it's only going to cost you about $20.00.
After you place the children on a Muscle Reducing Diet to prevent this happening again you can then proceed to plug in your newly acquired External Drive and backup all your Data on a regular Basis. For Home I have found it better to just copy your Data across to the external Drive so that when your current Computer fails you don't have any problems recovering your Data. If you use Backup Software or Encryption it's always possible that you will be unable to use the Software on a new computer or that the Encryption Method that you used isn't supported on the new machine so you have lost your Data.
Oh remember to Suitably Chastise the Children for Using [b]Brute Force[/b] on the NB.
Col
