Digitally dead

So, my laptop's died. I have finally come to terms with the fact that it no longer is able to run Windows, and hangs at exactly 31% during ScanDisk in DOS, refusing to continue. It cites a long filename to be the problem, and proceeds to hang. Obviously if Scandisk was run in Windows there may not be such a problem. It is a sticky, vicious-cycle sort of situation.

While in DOS, I tried to recall what I knew about DOS commands but was unable to figure out how to transfer my documents to a floppy. Help, anyone?

If not, then it's goodbye to my old university contacts, my MSSA minutes and newsletters, ALL my law essays, notes, my first websites, song lyrics and other precious files. My laptop was a time capsule chock full of fond memories. Its (then powerful) AMD 300MHz processor and 64MB of RAM was the envy of schoolmates, who were still running on Pentium 150s and 32 MB of RAM. It generated my first 3D landscapes. Small consolation that the company that manufactured it went kaput years before this baby went brain dead. My machine was going strong for over five years, making it the human equivalent age of 102 (or thereabouts). I should've known its time was up.

It gave me the best years of my life. It once made me the eighth most busy user on ResNet (a dubious accolade which I still like to brag about). It convinced me that I had an interest worth pursuing. It was the device through which I earned my very first cheque as a student, by loading advertisements from a legitimate program while I surfed. Subsequently I earned enough money to buy a domain name and pay for web hosting for two years. The rest, as you can see, is history.

Until some genius comes up with a better idea, may my poor little laptop rest in peace. *sniff*