I had to recover my system about a year ago when some file became corrupt. All of my own files seemed to disappear, made even more complicated because I kept the most important ones in my Programs folder. (I started doing that when I learned that criminals who encrypt people's files for ransom usually don't encrypt files in the Programs Folder - victims can't pay ransoms if they can't use their computers.)
After much investigation, I discovered that the files were still there but that Microsoft had changed the paths, e.g files on the old Desktop would not be on the re-installed Desktop, and files in the old Programs folder would not be in the re-installed Programs folder. Similarly for the old and re-installed My Documents folder, etc. In fact, even the NAMES of those original folders will NOT be Desktop, Programs or My Documents! If you exactly remember some file names and search for them, you might just find that they are still there, and then work out the new paths to find them all.
