I dodged a bullet and was able to install a new hard drive in the powerbook and restore all my data. Many an hour was spent at the Apple store at Mayfair at the Genius Bar, but it was all worth it when I was able to keep all my, apps, MUSIC, other docs. I have learned my leason and am backing my system up regularly.
Now its back to bit torrenting and audio hijacking my booty off :)