Anyone know about SimpleScripts .tar backups of WordPress sites?

(NOTE: My host, iPage, uses SimpleScripts to manage WordPress installations, upgrades, etc. I do not fully understand how SS and WP work together, i.e. where one ends and the other begins.)

I have just come across a bunch of files in my root directory that I have to assume were automatically placed there during a WordPress version upgrade. (The files have names like ssbk_HFbv_1307563322.tar AND simplescriptsbkup_TX2H_1307563312.tar and are, I believe, directly associated to several WP installations that I have on my root hosting account.

So, are these .tar files indeed backups from immediately before the upgrade to the latest version? Can they be used to restore a WordPress website to its previous functioning state? How???

This is of particular interest to me just now as I have recently upgraded to the latest WP version on all of my sites. Unfortunately, one of the upgrades didn’t work properly (the DB is missing some tables I am told) so the site is “broken.” Regrettably, I failed to make a good local backup before I upgraded. Worse, my host’s backup is also no good. (They only maintain one backup and the current one was made too recently, so it is a backup of the bad site. Aaargh!)

If one of these .tar files will help in any way, I certainly want to learn how!

Thanks in advance for any help.

V