Stop it! You are not responsible for the actions of others. If I pour gasoline on myself and set myself on fire, I chose to do that. No one else is to blame. It's a tragedy, no lie. What it's not is your fault. My mother decided to stop taking her life savings meds. She died as a result. She was old and sick and didn't want to be a burden. We told her she wasn't a burden and we loved her and needed her. She finally started taking meds but the two years off damaged her. She died 11 months ago. What she did or didn't do was her choice and hers alone. I miss her.

Calm down. I have had this happen to entire chapters of novels I have written. Guess what happens if the files can't be recovered? You get to reshoot those scenes, fix mistakes, and refine the quality of your work. The second time I wrote those chapters I wrote faster and ended up with a better story than if the originals were never lost.

The story is in you. You don't need the hard drive. Tell people you had an epiphany and are going a different direction with the project.