DVR Disaster

I'm facing a potential catastrophe with the status of my DVR.  It appears that my DVR is not recording any new shows or films correctly - skipping constantly, like a scratched DVD or something.  What I suspect - and what I fear - is that my actual DVR hard drive is messed up - and the only solution would be to get a whole new set-top box and DVR, losing all my current recordings.  And I have a lot of stuff saved on there I haven't got round to watching yet but I want to - and that's even after having purged it of some stuff that I'll never get round to watching.  What a disaster.  And what it also means is that for the moment I have to watch programs live - having to endure all the commercial breaks live as well.  That is almost intolerable.  Maybe this is the wake up call I need to giving serious consideration to cutting the cord.  Unlikely.