Dance like no one is watching...OR dance like you're in an ipod commercial

So my lap top crashed....again, and I had to bring it to Best Buy....again. But this time there is a dark cloud of gloom hanging over this repair. I tried to be a hero (me? never...that's ridiculous) and I tried to do a "system restore". This resulted in utter chaos. Everything was gone. My thousands (yeah that's right...I'm a bit of a picture whore) and thousands of pictures...just...gone. Another thing that pisses me off about my failed heroic efforts is my itunes. Kev bought me a slammin' (does anyone even say that anymore? If not, I'm going to try to bring it back) ipod for Crimbo that is 16GB and pink and engraved with sweet words. I have spent countless efforts perfecting several aspects of said ipod. Music, audiobooks, podcasts. I have used 9GB of memory on this bitch and I'm told that this is a lot. So anyway, the geek at Best Buy (hey now, that's what they want to be called) and his squad told me that there is a 90% chance that I can get my precious memories and tunes back. But of course, precious memories don't come cheap. It would cost me $200 to purchase the special memories that I have spent with loved ones. Ok...just get me my pictures back. I'll pay anything. I'm sure he knew that though (the desperation in my composure probably gave it away). So today I called and he started humming and hawing about how this is a very difficult thing to do and that they have tried 12 things that haven't worked. They have a few more options that they want to try and they will probably call me back. Yeah... that 90% doesn't seem so realistic now does it. I tried to get some sort of reassurance from him. I asked him if he thinks that further efforts will be successful. He "didn't want to promise me anything". I'm really and truly going out of my damn mind right now.
So...in conclusion, I want you to learn from my experience. If your job title doesn't have: geek, squad, engineer, technical super wonder of the world support or Bill Gates in it... then don't restore anything. Just don't do it.
That is all...