recovering home, please help!

[dercam]

hello all, because i am an new mac user, i accidentally re-named my home, which took it off of default, and then when trying to make it default i deleted the whole thing in the process.
i did the 'delete now' feature and didnt back the files up. =(
almost 25 GB are now gone....
i am using mac os x tiger 10.4.2.
can anyone recommend a good, cheap (or free) third-party system recovery tool?
or tell me how to recover the information through the utilities folder, (the directions on the mac website dont work for me)
or maybe some short-cut??
for some reason i cannot find 'users/deleted users/' anywhere on my computer
any suggestions? thanks!
most appreciative!!!

 

[ElDiabloConCaca]

First things first: stop using the Macintosh immediately. The longer you use it, the greater the chance that the recently deleted files will be overwritten with new data, making recovery nearly impossible.

You might want to give Data Rescue II a try... it's not free ($100), but if it works and the data is valuable to you, it's a drop in the hat:

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/1133

 

[bobw]

for some reason i cannot find 'users/deleted users/' anywhere on my computer

This is because you chose Delete Now. These files are gone, weren't saved to the deleted users folder.

Do what Diablo says. Unlikely you'll get all files back.