Computer Dies

I was sitting in front of my computer today when it died. It has been acting funny for a few days but tonight I was watching an online video when the hard disc failed. The computer turned itself off, and when I tried to start it again all it could manage was a "critical disc error - can´t boot from system disc!". I can´t get it to do anything. It was a lucky thing that I did a backup the other day otherwise I could have lost the lot. I did manage to get SuSE linux to boot from the DVD which is how I am able to write this. I have managed to install WindowsXP into a small disc, which is sat outside the machine on a smaller pile of books. I needed to use WindowsXP as there is this really cool disc recovery software that I have used before, but is only available on XP. I will do some data recovery activities over the next few days but it looks like I will have to order a new hard drive from Ebuyer.