Important files inaccessible after clean install of OS despite backup on external HDD

Hello everyone,

I just finished doing a fresh, clean install of Mac OS X lion on my macbook pro. Prior to reformatting the hard drive and installing the OS, I made a backup of everything present on the hard drive on an external, Wester Digital, 500 GB HDD. Some of the most important ones were the notes I have taken during my first half year of high school and, ironically enough, when I plugged in the HDD to retrieve some of my previous files, the most important files were the only files I could not get access to.

Before I backed everything up, the files I talk about were located on the desktop. I backed up absolutely everything. I even double checked if everything was there several times. I made sure that my subject notes were there; I had complete access to them and could even go in an edit my documents. But now I can't even see the files.

If you look at the image I've attached, you can see that the folder "Desktop", which used to be a light-blue, accessible folder just like all the others, now looks like a blank piece of paper with a small, black arrow in the corner.

When I then click it (look at the second, attached picture), the following text box comes up (and I translate):

"The action cannot be carried out because the original topic for "desktop" does not exist.

What the **** have I done? Will I ever be able to retrieve those school notes, which I have spent countless hours writing? If so, how can I do that?

Thank you in advance.

 

Would there be any way of retrieving the original files if I go deep enough into the system?

 

I appreciate your help, but that application is only available for Windows.