AAO won't fully boot-up... lost information?

Hi all,

I have recently turned my Acer Aspire One Linux off... and now when trying t re-start it - it only goes as far as the first blue screen. I have tried repeatedly, but to no avail. The charging light works when I'm charging it, the processor light illuminates as it should as does the Caps Lock one. The fan works well. I haven't changed or modified the system recently whatsoever, and so am at a loss as to what to do. Boot-up just freezes half-way through

I have a lot of irreplaceable information on the HD, so I took it in to PC World for a Data Recovery... but was told that as it's impossible to remove the HD they can't save anything from it. They only suggested a Lab Recovery - at a cost of some £700!

The onus here is on how to recover the essential documents from the HD, as I am lost without them. I have just re-tried starting it up, and get a dialogue screen when I press Esc as the freezing blue introductory screen comes on... is there any way of proceeding with the boot-up by entering any commands? I've also tried running it without the battery in, using AC.

I really need your help. Please!! :I am open to any ideas, barr opening it up.