hard disk drive error 4 on VGN-NS20M

[chemorle]

hi, i have a problem with my VGN-NS20M initially windows would not boot i got into the hardware diagnostics and it state there is error 4 on hdd. i have 2 and a half years of uni work on here and half of my 8000 word dissertation which i really dont want to lose. i didnt make back up disks!!!!!(smacks self in head) i really dont want to lose the work i have on it. is there anything i can do fix this or will it have to go in for repair??. could anyone give me a rough guesstimatem on how much it may cost?  i did buy extended warranty when i bought it but am pretty sure it is almost up and i cant find any policy documents anywhere grrr.

thanks

[gugabackhand]

I chem. have you tried booting into safe mode on this? Might be a good one to try.

[chemorle]

without wanting to sound too stupid how do i do this???

[peshyxp]

Whilst laptop is booting up hit the F10 key (or F8 key) repeatedly and will launch the safe mode software

From here you should be able to start the machine and copy all the valuable data on your C drive

Obviuosly if you can even access the safe mode then post here again with more details and will try help

[Blencogo]

DO NOT use F10 on a Vaio - this is used for a reformat and full recovery.  If you do this you will lose all data.

Use F8 to access Safe Mode.

[chemorle]

ok so i tried to boot in safe mode and it just keeps going to the screen saying windows failed to boot please put windows installation disks in. i can get it to go vaio recovery and diagnostics and also another series of blue screens on f2 but cant see safe mode on this. looks like i will have to take my expensive paperweight in for repair, unless there is anything else i can try. thanks for all your help so far