Mac Mini not booting - Missing Directory file

I cannot even get my Mac Mini (OS 10.8.3) to boot up - not even in safe mode.
I managed to video the verbose boot up screen as far as it went and the error is a Missing Directory Record, Macintosh HD needs to be repaired, Macintosh HD can't be repaired...
The only thing I can think of doig is taking it to a local Mac dealer and probably having to buy a new HD?
Anyone got any other ideas?

Hi Zlig,
Yes All backup to TM and a extra backup to a USB drive. I've disconnected everything and only reconnected power, monitor and keyboard and now when powering up I still get to the grey screen, Apple logo and progress bar but again crash after a couple of mintues.
I cannot seem to get the verbose safe mode working again either.
I'm not sure how connected this is but it did occur last night after looking at picture on an SD camera card from a friends camera.
As it's a Mac Mini I have no CD/DVD drive, no start up disc...so I can't run any diagnostic / repair apps.

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b. If you have access to a working Mac, and both it and the non-working Mac have FireWire or Thunderbolt ports, boot the non-working Mac in target disk mode. Use the working Mac to copy the data to another drive. This technique won't work with USB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth.
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Step 3
Sometimes a boot failure can be resolved by resetting the NVRAM.
Step 4
If you use a wireless keyboard, trackpad, or mouse, replace or recharge the batteries. The battery level shown in the Bluetooth menu item may not be accurate.
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Press and hold the power button until the power shuts off. Disconnect all wired peripherals except those needed to boot, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. Use a different keyboard and/or mouse, if those devices are wired. If you can boot now, one of the devices you disconnected, or a combination of them, is causing the problem. Finding out which one is a process of elimination.
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The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
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Launch Disk Utility in Recovery mode (see Step 1.) Select your startup volume, then run Repair Disk. If any problems are found, repeat until clear. If Disk Utility reports that the volume can't be repaired, the drive has malfunctioned and should be replaced. You might choose to tolerate one such malfunction in the life of the drive. In that case, erase the volume and restore from a backup. If the same thing ever happens again, replace the drive immediately.
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Reinstall the OS. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade.
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Problem: this mac is not reading an excell file after upgrading to yosemite.   My Mac is from 2009, it use to work perfectly but it wasn´t able to open some apps, thats why i upgrade it.   Now it once i donwload the zip it appears with an ".ods" ext

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Problem: this mac is not reading an excell file after upgrading to yosemite...   Now it once i donwload the zip it appears with an ".ods" extension...
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