How do i recover deleted user

Question

I have accidentally deleted my original user while trying to install a new user. I found the previous user file and dragged all the contents into a new user folder but that did not work. I took the imac to the Apple Store and the "genius" at the genius bar deleted that user before I could stop him. Now the files I found no longer exist, even in the disk image for the original user. None of my original settings work any more. I think the original user files must exist somewhere but it is not in the usual places.
More detail:
I was trying to set up a second user on the imac (2010) and migrate the user's info from a Powerbook G4 into the new user. The Apple support page said that I had to restart the powerbook in Target Mode to do the migrate. I renamed the user on the Powerbook to match the user on the iMac, restarted in Target mode and did the migrate. The migrate overwrote the original user info on the iMac, wiping out and settings, email and contacts. Not only that, the Target mode apparently did away with any user info I was trying to migrate, so what I ended up with on both computers is basically the factory setting as if there were no users. I attempted to recover the previous user as described above, but the folders had red Xes in them and did not reset the user info. But the info was there in the folders under the original user name. Went to the "Genius" bar where they got the laptop to at least recover the emails, etc. The next thing he did was to go to Accounts and delete the previous (original) user. Then he went searching for the previous user, but there was nothing in the folders because I had dragged, not copied them into the user he deleted. He asked if I had backups and I thought I did on an external hard drive at home. Got home and the time machine file on the hard drive was corrupt and would not back up. The only CD backup I have is two years old, so it doesn't have any iphone info.
So now I have two computers that sort of work but doesn't recognize any of the users for setup and email purposes. I'm afraid to synch my iphone because it warns me that it doesn't recognize the user and will replace info on the iphone. And all of my emails for the last few years are gone.
I thought I was getting backed up by the Backup application but it doesn't work. The laptop was set to backup to Mobile Me which doesn't work any more and I can't recover anything for it from icloud. The imac was supposed to be backed up to icloud but backup doesn't recognize any files there. I really don't know where to go from here except back to the "geniuses" at the genius bar and ask for an advanced tech support person.
Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Whew, if those files were secure deleted, they're cgone.
Your only slim hope is to quit using it completely to preent deleted file spaces being overwritten.
It may be possible to recover some erased ones, but you must quit using the Computer immediately, because the OS will think it can write to those freed blocks on the disk.
Either boot this one in Target mode...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1661
And recovering from another Mac, or booting this Mac from another HDD, then using Data Rescue...
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue.php
(Has a Free Demo to see if it could or not, but you'll need another drive to recover to).
Or professional Data Recovery Services.
BUT, every second you use that Mac the chances will be slimmer.
rccharles on file recovery...
"Stellar Phoenix Macintosh - Mac data recovery software, recovers data from damaged, deleted, or corrupted volumes and even from initialized disks."
They have a trial version, so I guess you can see if your data can be recovered...
http://www.stellarinfo.com/mac-data-recovery.htm
FileSalvage is an extremely powerful Macintosh application for exploring and recovering deleted files from a drive or volume. FileSalvage is designed to restore files that have:
    * been accidentally deleted.
    * become unreadable due to media faults.
    * been stored on a drive before it was re-initialized/formatted.
http://subrosasoft.com/OSXSoftware/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id= 1
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=11073082#11073082