Sorry for the delay in responding to you.....
Do NOT quick format the drive or you could make things more difficult to recover.
The first thing you should try is....
- download Recover My Files from www.recovermyfiles.com, or click here: http://download.getdata.com/RecoverMyFiles-Setup.exe;
- Run a "Fast Format Recover";
- In the drive selection window (second wizard screen) you should see your a 250gb "physical drive" listed. Select this drive by putting a tick next to it;
- Start and run this search. It will probably take a few hours to run on such a large drive.
I expect that this search will get all your files back with full file and folder names. The results will be shown in "Folder View" of the results screen. Click on the files here to make sure you can preview their content in the preivew window, and if you can, purchase an acivation key to save your files.
If this search does not work, you need to next try a "Complete Format Recover". Search the physical drive for the default selected files type ONLY. This will be a longer search so you may need to run it overnight - but it will get all you files back with full file and folder structure.
Please let us know how you get on.
Thank you.