Recover Lost / Deleted Files After Windows 8 Reset?

So, my problem started earlier this week when I tried to scan my Hard Drive using my antivirus system. Never do that.

My Vaoi laptop froze at 27% during the scan, and I had to manually shut it off (hold down the power button) and then restart it. Well, it started the scan again, and got stuck again, so I had to restart it again. The next time, I was able to read this millisecond long message about how to "cancel dskchk by pressing any key", so I did, but then it just took forever to load and opened on an error message saying that windows couldn't load, or something along those lines.

Eventually, after figuring out how to open safe mode, I tried to use a Restore point (which didn't work), Refresh the System (which couldn't complete), do a lot of maintenance scans (none of which worked), consult the internet off of my friend's computer (where I heard about the windows.old folder), and then I was finally forced to use the Vaio Recovery Tool and do an emergency backup onto my new External Hard Drive... It semi-worked, but a lot of my files weren't passed over to the external drive, and I'd like to get them back.

The files I care about are mostly image and document files (jpg, bmp, Word, and Notepad) and the folders they were in were all on my Desktop, but I don't know how to get them back. Some are there, some aren't, it's all just really confusing. So, now, I'm currently running three different Data Recovery programs (Wondershare, EaseUS, and Recuva - all free versions), but I'm basically wondering if there's anything else I can do to fix this. I don't have a windows.old folder on my C drive, but I do on my external hard drive, but it's half empty, like the rest of my folders..