it has happened me 3 times... complete death of HDD... I only miss it when i get nostalgic and wish i could see projects, writtings or photos i did then... now i always keep two partitions one with the software and the other with the content and backup the last to DVD regularly... just remeber... just one dvd is NOT enough, you must put the same thing into two separate DVDs...

About the reel: now you can do a new one whith what you learnt doing the frist, it hasnt to be long, just put your best tricks on it...