Hard Disk Corrupted?

I'm a heavy user that relies on my macbook pro for my everyday use. I recently found out there are 2 operations that i cannot perform. number 1, my trash does not allow any item to stay within the trash can and any action i take deletes instantly. number 2, i realized that i cannot insert any disc without it beeping and popping it back out. I googled solutions and did in fact go to disk utility and repair disk permission and verify disk. I did at one point receive

"Invalid volume file count

Invalid volume directory count

The volume Macintosh HD was found corrupt and needs to be repaired.

Error: This disk needs to be repaired. Start up your computer with another disk (such as your Mac OS X installation disc), and then use Disk Utility to repair this disk."


I'm not quite sure what i could do at this stage and would love to get some help from everybody.

I'm petrified that i might lose everything on my mac. My friend of mine who has had his corrupted files could not open his mac. I have tons of software and music files and its outrageous that i still haven't find the time to invest in a external drive. If anybody knows if there is a good deal in canada for external let me know. This whole occurrences has gotten me shaken up.

Thanks in advanced for any helper on macrumors.


P.S. Just a little info on my macbook. Its the 2010 MBP edition 15" Intel Core i5 2.4 Ghz
Version 10.6.8

 

hi thanks for the feedback. Should i have backup files before i attempt any of that? I wonder how this started. I barely use my dvd driver. Could it a be corrupt file i downloaded online?