Ok - FYI for the future -
1) always back up your hard disks
2) if this should ever happen to you - don't waste time trying to figure it out - there are products that will restore your files - a little disorganized/some it won't/others it won't recognize - but there is software to help you get back some of, if not all the important ones.
3) it's long and tedious, but it seems to be working
The one I used is File Recovery & I'm glad I'm starting to recognize the files that are now being saved on the C: drive :-)
Thanks for your help guys