Please Help - Reinstalling OS X

Hi everyone,

i have recently tried to use bootcamp and put windows xp back on my MB C2D and it couldn't partition my hard drive and said to repair the disc. When i go to disc utility to try and repair my HD, the repair disc button is shaded out so i can't use it, so i tried verify disc and it said it needed repairing, but how can i do this when the repair disc button is shaded out?

do i need to reinstall OSX or is my HD f*cked?

If i need to reinstall OSX, would i be able to drag all my programs from Applications on to an external HD, reinstall OSX and then drag all those programs back to applications from my external HD? I have a lot of programs that i have added and downloading and installing them all will take an age!

thanks in advance for your help!