Dude I am so sorry, that really stinks. For the future, FWIW, in Fallout 3 and Oblivion, I'd always keep about 5 saves that were somewhat recent. So if you only have 1 save and constantly update it, you run the risk of saving over it w/ another character. But if you have 4 or 5 saves for each character, and accidentally save over your newest save, you can still revert back to one that was only an hour or so ago. I save super frequently, so I'd update the same save most of the time, then every few hours create a new save, and maybe delete the oldest one.
With Skyrim I would be glad if I ever accidentaly deleted my character. After lvl 15 things start to go downhill. The higher tier armors and weapons look like shit -.-
Still, if it's a character you really enjoy playing, you always back it up :P
And I remember how I ballsed up in New Vegas. My character was lvl 23 and I felt like I would never stop playing that game. I was really immersed. Then I accidentaly saved over it with my lvl 2 hardcore mode character :/ Wasn't my best moment.
Ohhhh I feel your pain! I did this twice...
I did it to my lvl 30 Imperial, which was very far in the main quest, head of the Companions and done with the civil war, and then to my lvl 20 Bosmer, which was a Nightingale, head of the DB and also done with the civil war. =/