Really sick mac

Hi,
Recently while backing up my docs folder (minimac to lacie external) I inadvertanlty dragged my hd icon onto the lacie. When I restarted my mac was very sick so eventually I did a clean install of the os. There was nothing - absolutely nothing - on the mac. A local company tried everything to recover something right down to linux level. Zilch! So okay, we reformatted and reloaded and plugged in the lacie. Everything was on the external except my docs! Any ideas why, how or whatever?
Thanks,
peter

try searching for a file on your lacie - using spotlight etc.