In any case, I can understand just how frustrated and let-down you must feel right now. I've had (more than) my share of bad luck with external hard drives, and have been caught in situations where I had put in months of work on a project and then lost pretty much all of my editing to my hard drives dying. And while I don't want to tell you what to do, I do want to reiterate just how much I appreciate everything you've done on this edit, and the dedication and quality of work you've shown. I also want to re-echo everything that has been said about how excited we are for this edit, and indeed, how hungry we are for it, as for many of us (certainly myself), this is the only version of the film we were going to watch from this point forward.
Again, I hope you don't feel as though I am pressuring you in any way. My only intent is to encourage. And while I would definitely understand if, given all you've gone through, you gave up at this point, I just want to say that I would certainly love to see the finished adywan edit of Star Wars, in all its glory.
Let me know if there's anything I can do to help. All the best for your files' recovery.
Take care,
Sojourn
EDIT: Wow, a few people responded before I finished typing! I found nohandluke's comments particularly moving, and I wanted to say that I echo many of the thoughts he shared. We're really pulling for you, adywan.