Data loss

[BRUTAL]

This is a pretty ironic and sad problem I have - I basically was on a site that I shouldn't have been on (use your imagination), when I abruptly had a window pop up, describing some kind of hard drive error, and the word "sata" was included, but I don't know much of what the message meant, or said to be honest. At first I thought that window itself was some sort of pop-up, so I closed it, though it eventually came up again. I clicked the start button to get to the start menu, and I noticed that the menu was pretty much empty, and that my desktop was completely blank with no shortcuts. I shut off my laptop in hopes to boot it in safe mode and be able to use my basic knowledge to fix what had happened. Unfortunately windows failed to start, so I was given the option to start up in something along the lines of "start-up repair" or something like that; which basically informed me that a system restore was going to be attempted. After the repair process was completed, I logged into my account, and noticed first that my desktop only had the recycling bin, and HoN shortcut; which horrified me since I had a lot more on the desktop, this followed apparent annihilation of all picture/video/misc. documents. All my pictures are gone, my videos, things like warcraft 3 maps, chat logs, etc. are gone; but not music... which is odd.
I posted this to see if anyone can identify what I've been trying to explain, and if there are any useful tips that I should know.
Thanks in advance. :<

Edit: I also forgot to mention that some processes keep failing to work, for example my "Catalyst Control Centre: Host application."

 

[Slapshot136]

I would stop using the computer, take the hard drive out, and then from another computer run recuva or similar on the drive, salvage what you can - the more you use it, the more you over-write what was deleted with other stuff, then completely re-install windows and move your stuff back

 

[BRUTAL]

Well, I recently found out that my files aren't actually gone, or removed. I was messing around with trying to find my files, so I decided to enable viewing hidden files/folders, and sure enough everything was still there. Though, I still wish to reformat my laptop for other reasons on top of a large amount of files/folders being hidden.
So I am now trying to use the "dell datasafe local backup" or "dell factory image restore," which can be accessed through advanced boot options, but the problem is that I cannot access the advanced boot options. When my laptop is starting up, and I am pressing f8, it seems as if the laptop is going into advanced boot options, but then the screen displays what one would see from a "failed start up."
Does anyone have any advice on what to do about this now?