I noticed there hasn't been any mention of attempting to recover your deleted files from your local disk. If you haven't tried it yet it is worth a shot. There are a few software solutions out there that will scan your disk for files that have been deleted. On Windows I have used Piriform's Recuva[1] and on OS X I have used PhotoRec[2], both have worked rather well. It is worth noting that the longer you wait to try the more likely the sectors are to be overwritten with new data. (And you should back up any files currently on the disk). I know it is a long shot at this point but some chance is better than none. Good luck.
Or, I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow he posts that he found them all in his trash.... Because nobody ever thinks to clear it. Sometimes the simplest solution is right under our nose.
Sleep Cycle, a sleep tracking alarm clock for iOS, uses the accelerometer to implement snooze with a smack of the phone (while it is on your bed), while the alarm off is the de facto slide to the right. I think this is about the best phone alarm clock I've used for this feature alone. It is so similar to interacting with a regular alarm clock.
I've never used a real alarm clock, but I do feel like it is easier to wake up with sleep cycle. It is also awesome that you have a limited number of snoozes, after those it doesn't stop ringing.
