Hard save glitch in Skyrim, Multiple characters not possible?

So i've been off work for about a week with some injuries. I have spent that majority of time doped up on percocets, and playing Skyrim.

My level 20 Nord, who had alot of hours clocked in him went missing today, after I decided to create a Breton and try my hand at a mage.

I put about 30 mins into the Breton then hard saved, shut down the ps3.

Now when I went looking for my Nord, I don't see him. Or any evidence of him. I had two Nord hard saves, plus an auto save. All are gone and are replaced with my level 2 Breton.

If it werent for the numbing effect of the perks I would be throwing a fit right now.

I did a quick google search and found this is a common issue with the PS3. Considering the recent update that we had, shouldnt it be fixed. Most of the stuff im reading is during the games intial week realese and month.

Any way around this? Anyone have similar problems?