Commented that too! I have recovered tons of stuff for clients using this for data recovery

Use testdisk and photorec! Don't use the computer so the files dont get overwritten. There's a big possibility the data is still there.

Also for the mac mini/linux setup, a kvm switch is a really nice solution to switch the keyboard, mouse and display while working

The thing is to have the best tool for the job, mac mini or whatever for propietary stuff to avoid the windows slop and linux for personal stuff/coding.