Restore accidentally deleted files on Time Machine

G’day,

I am operating a 21 inch iMac 10.6.8 Snow Leopard 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GB 667 MHz DDR 2 SDRAM computer purchased mid 2007 combined with a Maxtor 500 GB external hard drive which, in an effort to improve its efficiency after some minor glitches, I uninstalled and reinstalled Snow Leopard. Unfortunately after completing the re-installation I accidentally deleted my backed up files from Time Machine. In my search to try and recover my deleted files I came across a link somewhere in Time Machine Help (which I’ve never been able to find again since!) which indicated that I may be able to recover the missing files by clicking on the link which appeared to do the trick because over a lengthy period of time a loading process took place and when completed Time Machine indicated that approximately 22 GB less space was available on my external hard drive than when the process started. This would seem to suggest that my lost files have been recovered but are hidden somewhere in the depths of Time Machine. Any suggestions on how to recover my elusive files would be greatly appreciated. Since I’ve achieved what I prefer to think of as enhanced maturity, replies in very simple plain English would be even more appreciated!

Cheers,

Bill