iPod Touch 5g Spontaneous Reset?

Hi guys,

So I was watching a YouTube video on my iPod Touch 5g running 9.1.2 I believe (not certain) and it crashed. This isn't out of the ordinary as it sometimes does this when running various apps and there is several seconds of a blank screen until it brings me back to the lockscreen. Anyway, this time was very different.

I pressed the power button in attempt to wake it up and slide to unlock as per usual, that didn't work so I thought maybe I drained the battery... So I powered it on and a few minutes passed ; in that time the Apple logo stayed on the screen for an unusually long time, I connected it to power and eventually it came up with Hello; Slide to Set-up.

This is completely out of the ordinary as the iPod surely couldn't have reset itself without prior initiation. I did not initiate a software update either.

After this I went through the steps to set-up the iPod. I came to the wifi connection step and it immediately connected to the home wi-fi - in theory, indicating at least some memory or data retention right? If a new device was being set-up the wi-fi password would have to be entered manually.

After this I was unsure what to do as I hadn't backed up to iCloud or iTunes recently and have so many important photos and notes on it. So I powered off and hoped this whole thing was just a glitch.

Currently, I'm still at the stage where my iPod will not boot - I've tried connecting to wall power and computer power. The Apple logo appears for maybe 2 minutes and disappears, back to a blank screen.

I can't get my device into recovery mode or DFU mode as my home button is stuck. My only option now is to go and try to get it fixed by a local repairer and see what happens.

My questions are: If I can get my device into DFU or Recovery mode and applications such as iTunes or iFunbox can finally recognise my device will I be able to access data that surely cannot be lost?

What are your suggestions?

Thanks in advance.