Another reason why a backup isn't an optional extra, it's vital to
your personal well-being

FWIW you aren't first and won't be the last for a data loss disaster
to make them take backing up data more seriously !

I've been trying out a program called R-Linux to do a data recovery on
an EXT3 drive so might be worth checking it out with that before you
decide everything is gone forever ? Currently running it under WinXP
in VBox on this system with the HD in a USB caddy ... bit slow as it's
a 750Gb drive but looks like it's doing the job.

BTW - not my data that's been lost here, my partner's so in a similar
boat though this was her fault