TOTAL hard drive FAILURE! PLEASE HELP!?

I was watching a video saved to my desktop, and then when I exited out...that folder was empty (it originally had about 200 videos in it)! Then I got a pop up saying that the hard drive system failed and that i should reboot my system. I re-booted, but that was it. I have a black screen with no files, folders, or anything! Even the start bar is blank! No access to the internet or anything! It was a total crash! Anyway to restore my hard drive and computer, even if it means re-doing the vista with my cd again? PLEASE help!