Big Woods Cabin: In like a lion, out like a lamb

At least that's what I'm hoping for. The forecast looks good. After two inches of snow and temperatures in the teens, it's looking like this weekend will be in the 70's... yeah, I know, awesome.

I've been having a problem.
Some of you may know that I am continually filling up my computer's smallish hard drive with the literally thousands of pictures I take (of what? the boy, mostly, followed closely by the dogs and cats, and of course, the chickens, and the flowers-- which, hallelujah, are starting to bloom, in spite of the cold!!).
To alleviate the situation, we bought and external hard drive last year, and have been backing everything up on it.
You can probably guess the rest of the story...

The external hard drive is not working. I am not able to access any of the files stored on it, neither can I save any more files to it.

Before everyone freaks out, let me reassure you that in a rare moment of foresight, of the pictures that moved, I deleted from the computer only those pictures of Buck that were out of focus or otherwise not up to my high standards of perfection (...have you seen my house?), so I still have all his baby pictures.
Anyway. What is on the line mostly is pictures from that other life I had about a year and a half ago, and who really cares about that?
Besides, I'm pretty confident that the files are still there, we just may need to have them "professionally" recovered.
Oh, and the tech support from the company has returned my query only to ask for our proof of purchase. My question is-- What proof of purchase? It was an internet purchase. I don't exactly have a receipt laying around. Also, how would I get it to them if I did? I'm serious, here, folks, I have no idea how to go about this.

What's the point of all this?

The point is, I can't post any pictures.
Well, I can't post any new pictures.
And I've got two (count 'em) memory cards chock-full-o-nuts and ready to be uploaded. I just don't have any space. :(
(I usually don't use emoticons, but that one is strictly necessary.)

I'll give you a few teasers-- check back periodically and maybe I'll have figured this whole mess out-- or, if you're one of those annoyingly knowledgeable/awesome in a pinch computer gurus ("Oh, no, no, what you want to do is *THIS*") PLEASE HELP ME!!!

Pictures/movies you could be enjoying RIGHT NOW!!
-Buck crawling outside!!
-Long-lost pictures of Buck's First Halloween! (I never uploaded them!)
-various hilarious (that has a nice ring...) pictures of Adam!
-Buck petting (hitting) cats!
-Adam and my dad bottling beer!
-Adam and Andy digging a pond!
-Buck pushing his wagon in a cowboy hat!!

And for all you flora lovers, no, unfortunately I haven't been able to take my annual daffodil shots. But here, I'll post one from three years ago and NO ONE WILL KNOW!! Well, I guess everyone will know, but only because they got told...