BUG!! Deleting secondary user account deletes primary account's mail?

[Jim Witte]

   I just deleted the secodary account on my macBook (10.4.7) that  
I'd set up briefly for a relative who was here.  I foolishly chose  
"Delete Immidiately" as I figure it would just delete the stuff in  
the second account's /User folder..  Then I start up Mail (in the  
primary account, and find that EVERYTHING is gone.  All the rules,  
all the custom mailboxes, everything - except for the account  
setups..  I'm not sure if I logged in and out after deleting the  
second account, but I haven't restarted the computer..  When I  
started up Mail, I noticed it acted as though it was the first time  
I'd used it, giving me the welcome screen..  I clicked continue.  The  
only difference to the Mail setup I'd made was to install and IDLE- 
IMAP bundle, which seemed to be working.  That bundle was put in ~/ 
Mail/Bundles/, a folder which also disappeared.

   Has this EVER happened to anyone else?  If so, and if the  
conditions which create it can be found, it is an extremely serious  
bug..

   Of to see if Data Rescue can find anything..  For that matter,  
does HFS+ lazy-deletes files, and could a util just search for the  
master catalog record for the top level folders, which presumably  
would then point to (mostly) intact records of files contained in  
them which could be undeleted the same way?  Mind you, I have *no*  
idea how HFS+ handles things..

Jim