How do I restore my non-backed up iPod that has been fully disabled?

Basically I tried to log into my iPod years ago, and repeatedly tried to access it, but I couldn’t recall the password. I disabled it for more than 20 minutes in that time, then an hour, then 2 hours, so then I turned it off and forgot about it for about a year. Year later, I tried one time to access it and it says, “IPod is disabled.” And isn’t allowing me to do any addition tries or attempts. I truly disabled it. Now, I have a lot of important things on it such as paperwork, emails, and pictures, so I’m wondering if I can access it once again.

It says, “Connect to iTunes.” And so I connected it to my computer, but I did not back my iPod up, so it said unable to retrieve due to password, must type in password to move forward, but I cannot put in my password.

Is there a way to truly recover it without having to do a factory reset, or do I have to restart it all… I tried to put it in DFU mode, doesn’t work and says unable.

if anyone has any ideas or suggestions, pls let me know. :)