I did it!!!
I used the trial version of "Restorer2000" and got back EVERYTHING.
The HD was only formatted once and nothing else was copied there afterwards, as we took precautions after we found out.
It was the unlucky byproduct of the frustrating try to install WinXP on my best friends system BTW. Still not done with that though, installation keeps hanging everytime before you can even select the drive to install on. Well, off to new deeds it is
