So I was overwriting my backup copy of all my work to my external hard drive (u know where this is going) and instead of overwriting the folder it just made another one and renamed it. I didnt want this so I just deleted the folder that was in there already and thought ill just copy paste it again. When I deleted it, a message said it was too big for the recycling bin so it had to be permanently deleted so I just clicked "yes" thinking it was just deleted an old backup I had of the folder. IT WAS THE FRIGGIN ONE FROM MY PC's HARD DRIVE, and that meant all I had left was the backup of the folder (which I last backed up about 10 days ago).
Thankfully though I have a software called Easeus Data Recovery Wizard which I downloaded to search for recoverable data even if it has been removed form the recycling bin! my whole day has been dedicated to getting this work back from the realms of kapoof and now I have managed to recover everything. However this has set me back one day on a busy schedule but if anyone is reading this I cannot recommend this software more to anyone, it has saved god knows how many hours of work
I will definitely back up more often from today
