I don't really agree with the definition of Nostalgia as the "pain of ignorance". Certainly the excerpts posted don't justify such a statement enough for me to be able to accept it. What exactly does the pain of ignorance mean? It doesn't make much sense - any pain deriving directly from ignorance could only be felt after the veil of ignorance is lifted, otherwise one would be ignorant of the pain as well. If it means pain caused due to ignorance of a way to prevent such pain - being ignorant of a simple cure that would have prevented a loved one dying, it's not really "the pain of ignorance", it's more the pain caused by ignorance.
Either way, neither really have anything at all to do with nostalgia.
I don't see nostalgia as an entirely negative thing. There are connotations of a fixation in the word, but one can be nostalgic without ignoring the present. There is nothing wrong with looking back on the golden days of your youth with fondness, provided you can do so without losing sight of the present.
Presuming that Kundera is referring to this more dangerous "ignorance" of the present in favour of the past, I think that it's because people with a tendency to nostalgia seem to remember the good things and not the bad things. For that reason, I would refer to it not so much as ignorance, and more as Disillusionment.
Regarding the other questions - I'm not particularly nostalgic. I remember the good things about my youth, but also the horribly embarrassing :P
I'm presuming when you say "sentimental" you mean "sentimental about past memories" as sentimentality ranges over much more than memories. In either case, yes, it's definitely possible to be sentimental without being nostalgic, the difference being the connotations of a fixation like I mentioned earlier - you can be sentimental about your memories without necessarily thinking that those days were better, which is a definite aspect of nostalgia.
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