iPhone 3GS - Boot Loop Problem [URGENT!!!]

Hello,

I am happy to find this active forum. Here is my problem below, can someone please please help me URGENTLY:

I have an iPhone 3GS and it has the software version of 3.1.2. I bought this 6+ months ago and everything went well and it did not give me a problem for a while until now.

Now, all of a sudden the iPhone froze once while I was simply using it and then when I held the home button and the top-right button, I restarted it (hoping it will take me back to the passcode entrance screen), but the iPhone gets stuck at the Apple logo and restarts over and over again (looping!). I cannot get passed the Apple logo. The Apple logo just stays there and then the loading circle appears and then after some minutes, it restarts again and does the same thing. It's very frustrating!

*Now I can go into Recovery Mode and restore it and update it to iOS 4 (which I planned to in the future), but I NEVER BACKED-UP my data!!!*

**I really need to backup my data before I can do a Restore. **

Can someone please help???????????

Please reply ASAP. I am very frustrated as I cannot use it and the data in it is very important.

I just want my phone to go back to the main screen after i input my passcode so that I can backup all my stuff and restore my iPhone and then upgrade to the new iOS4.

Please Please help. Please reply and give me some sort of Advice.

Also, since I never backed-up my iPhone in iTunes, what will happen to the Applications I purchased from the App Store??? Will I need to buy them again if I need to do a restore???? I hope not!!

Please help me find a way to backup my stuff and then I can do a full system recovery.

THANK YOU!!!!