So, all other tools failed (paid or not). This one was free – I totally forgot to donate to this guy – but I just did it . What reminded me was that I have a friend who’s drive just failed and he MIGHT have it all backed up – so rather than fight – where will I start? With TestDisk from CgSecurity.org . THANKS CHRISTOPHE GRENIER – YOU ARE ONE OF MY HEROS!!!  So many tools didn’t work – Christophe’s TestDisk did.I had some work/code that was NOT checked in (it was only a week – but it was an important week). I should be doing it every time – which I usually do every time I make changes (except this one time when it mattered).

One more note – yes I have also done some research and Novastor’s backup works wonderbar!!! It is not Mac’s time machine (every hour on the hour) – but it is SUPER CLOSE and it does work and it delivers what it promises – backup once a ____ and incremental daily backups. I can’t believe the price – they are practically giving it away at $25 US – it is worth much more than what you pay. I highly recommend it. It needs a SMALL tweak for computers who got the windows update for Windows 10 but I am sure that will be solved soon.