If I only find a private key does that get me anywhere?
The private key should be part of the wallet file, as the wallet file is what holds all of your keys. In the event that you just have a randomly private key lying around somewhere, you can at least know that you are making progress, and access the funds on the address the private key is associated with (could be all your mining earnings, could be nothing).
I thought I found one but no. What do you think of pywallet 2.2? Does it really cover all the hex and handle fragments on an hd for that period? I have used that most on every hard disk.
I did start out with recurva, nothing relevant in deleted files. Then tried photorec, they even had a signature Bitcoin Armory wallet, not sure if that was the same, but tried it along with a hex that was different from the one above. Was thinking of going back through the disks with winhex trying the hex above, but if pywallet covers them all then what is the point I guess. Already been at it for weeks, going insane over it.