FC6 installs to wrong partition - major data loss

[fedora6 at brosam.com]

I'm looking for help.

I installed fedora core 6 last night - I had a previous fc5
installation on the computer, but was going for a new install.

Here was my fc5 setup:
AMD64 machine using X86_64 version
/boot on /dev/hdc1 100MB partition
logical volume consisting of  / and swap partitions spread over
/dev/hdc2, /dev/hdd and /dev/sdb
/dev/sda1 - ext3 partition that was used to backup my data with
multiple snapshots: see
http://www.mikerubel.org/computers/rsync_snapshots/

I booted from the fc6 install DVD, where I was given the choice to
install new or upgrade previous version of linux -- I chose to install
new. I then chose "remove Linux partitions from selected drives",
deselected /dev/sda1 and then chose "advanced storage configuration"

There, I set up a similar system to before:

/boot on /dev/hdc1 (100MB)
logical volume (/ and swap) on /dev/hdc2, /dev/hdd1 and /dev/sdb1

/dev/sda1 was listed as a type 83 partition and without a check
indicating that it was going to be formatted (do you see where this is
going yet?).

I chose the software packages and completed the rest of the
installation and fc6 installed and booted without any difficulty. I
then tried to mount /dev/sda1 to bring over my old data to the new
machine -- I received an in use or busy error.  I then tried to
unmount it -- same problem.  Thinking that was weird, I ran the
logical volume manager -- it indicated that /dev/sdb1 was unitialized
and that /dev/sda1 was now part of my fedora logical volume -- panic
ensued.

I immediately shut down my machine, thinking that I had screwed up the
installation procedure.  I had just given away my Knoppix rescue disk
so I decided to reinstall fc6, thinking that I had screwed up and
checked the wrong disk on which to install.  I used the same setup,
triple checking that I had it right.  I checked the LVM after the
install and it again was installed on /dev/sda1 instead of /dev/sdb1.

I tried to uninitialize /dev/sda1 so I could run a recovery utility on
it, but I didn't have enough room, so I tried to initialize /dev/sdb1
using the LVM to make room, but it would not initialize.  It stated on
the information panel that it had a bootable partition on it.  I
thought that may have prevented it from initializing, so I used fdisk,
removed the boot flag, and deleted and created a new partition -- it
would still not initialize.

I'll start out by admitting that my setup is weird, but it's gotten
that way through evolution.  Here are some more specifics, in case
they help with troubleshooting.

It's a home-built machine with an MSI mb, AMD64 3200+ single core
processor.  It has been stable for 18 months or so.  I support a lot
of my friends'/family's computers and end up with extra parts, which
is why I have 4 hard drives.  I have two connected through the
motherboard's PATA connector (hdc/hdd - 40GB and 18GB Western
Digitals), with 2 optical drives on the other PATA connector.  I had
sda1 (80GB Western Digital) connected through the 1st SATA port on my
motherboard and sda2 was a new 300GB Seagate drive connected through
an SATA card (my MB didn't recognize the drive; I can't remember what
the brand/model is off the top of my head).

I tried to install fc6 again (I am a glutten for punishment), but this
time wanted to unplug the 80GB drive that had the possible remnants of
my data on it.  I worried that if I simply unplugged for installation
and then plugged the drive in afterwards, that I'd screw up the drive
order and would have to work on setting the system back up again.  I
eventually found a configuration where my 300GB drive would be
/dev/sda1 and my 80GB drive /dev/sdb1 -- both drives hooked into my
SATA card.  I unplugged the 80GB drive and successfully installed fc6
with the LVM on the 300GB drive.

That is where I stand now -- I have a sucessful fc6 installation with
the correct setup and my 80GB drive unplugged with my backup
information written over.  Thankfully, I burned a new DVD of some of
the files right before the installation and have some old ones from
which I can make up some of the data, but I still lost some photos and
music.  Here are my questions:

1. Why did it install on the wrong partition... twice?  Is this a
known bug?  I am certain that I entered in the correct information and
that it displayed what it was going to do correctly.
2. Can I get my information back?  How?

Thank you in advance.