How To Backup “recovery” Hardrive On A Hp Computer?

I scanned with the SMART program, and it said I have hardrive failure… woopee… -_-
And stupid warranty died like 2 months ago…
So it tells me to “backup”, what do i backup files with?
And HP computers come with a recovery proportion on the drive, like 8gb reserved for reformatting your computer without the CD. And I don’t have windows XP setup CD so if i get a new harddrive i cant install windows into it, is there a way to transfer my current D-drive recovery into some external hardrive or somewhere to put it?
Or should I take it to some computer store like BestBuy or Futureshop and they can put in a new hardrive and backup all the information including the reovery memory.
The D-drive for hp is kind of like a built in Setup cd for a windows.