USB ports not woriing properly... can someone offer advice?

I own a sony VAIO FJ270/B notebook computer I've had for about 5 months. My USB ports seem to be having an issue as to where when I plug in a device such as a wireless USB receiver, a USB keyboard, harmony remote, or external HD it will detect the device and launch the "add new hardware" screen in windows. No matter what drivers I install, the USB device will NOT work. I have tried updating the USB drivers in the device manager as well as uninstalling the USB hubs and reinstalling them to no avail. I have tried using system restore and loading my configuration from as far back as possible.

Do you believe this to be a software or hardware malfunction? Windows does recognize the device, and for some reason my wireless notebook mouse works perfectly (even though the hardware device manager cannot "find" the drivers it clearly doesn't need)

I am close to formatting and reinstalling to OS, however I have about 35 GB of data i want to back up first and I can't use an external HD because of the USB malfunction. Any suggestions about how to back up all that data on DVD (i don't have nero or any DVD authoring software)

If you could help I would SO appreciate it!

tell me if it works though