Didn't expect it to be this soon, but turns out the problem was very simple. My dad said he'd try getting the laptop fixed earlier this morning, but before resorting to getting it checked at a pc place, he asked his friends about it. I'd previously noticed there were two small things that came loose in the compartment where the SATA drive was being used, and it looked like they were supposed to support the drive and prevent it from disconnecting. Turns out that from all the moving around I'd done, it ended up doing just that. Even though the dual boot options load in Windows 10 from the SSD, it must be that the inital boot starts with the SATA. Without that properly connected, the laptop wasn't able to progress beyond the startup screen, but now that it's been secured, everything is back to normal! Dad texted to say he fixed it not long into the afternoon, and I couldn't believe it! Shoutouts to my dad, who is, as the title says, a legend! All a good reminder to invest in an external drive, purely for backup. Just thankful I can resume commissions as normal. Thanks to everyone who coped with my bullshit when I wrote that emo post before. Work was hard, and it seemed to be one thing after the other.

Speaking of which, the UK had a bunch of snow. It meant two days off work, but three days of backlog to catch up on as a result, so this week's been hella full on so far. Snow was pwetty tho. Was pretty chill without the laptop for a change. Got to focus on playing through some games, watch stuff on the telly, much easier to go sleep early. Definitely an eye-opener for not taking stuff like that for granted, and making the most of various things, without being stuck on a computer screen all the time.

tl;dr, Dad fixed it, one of the hard-drives was loose. Snow happened. Work busy. Me tired.