Seagate External Hard Disk Died :cry

I have a Seagate original HDD of 320GB where I had some really important documents and pictures (of course, everyone's data is important, needless to be mentioned). A couple of months ago, it suddenly stopped being recognized on all computers. I took it to the service guy near my house, who said there is a clicking sound but that it is not being detected. I was referred to a data recovery agency who said it was 'physical damage' and some 70% can be recovered, and that I gotta pay to the tune of $800. I live in India, and no one charges so much for these services. I smelled a rat, and also sensed I would be bankrupt for months. So took my Seagate external HDD back. The HDD was opened by them and then given to me. Like a fool I told them it was ok to be opened and checked. I have no idea what they did with it. I decided not to approach any 'data recovery agencies' that are advertised cos I have become really suspicious of them. Now I really want my data back. My problems are these:

• If there is a physical damage (as claimed by those agents) what are the chances of getting the data back?
• What can I possibly do myself at home in order to get the data? I am willing to spend money to the tune of $100, if need be for a good software.
• Assuming there really was a physical damage and the robbers weren't lying about the actual problem, it still means the data could be recovered, cos they swore they would give me 70% of it. That means, there must be data in it still. If there is still data in it, where could I possibly go, if I can't do it at home? The thing is, I am such a non-geek that I can easily get misled by unscruplous guys.
• I only need one folder from the entire disk cos I have copies of everything else. Now, that particular folder was copied to my desktop/laptop, I don't remember which, and then deleted after transferring back to the external HDD. So, can this path be used to get the data back? From either the laptop or desktop (I don't remember where I had copied and pasted, and then pasted from there to HDD again). My laptop runs on vista and my desktop on Windows 7.
• I did get a little adventurous today, and tried recuva on both desktop and laptop, but I did not see any of the files I wanted. I have been downloading free recovery softwares like a mad guy, but all in vain.

I have two options:

1. Try the seagate external harddisk which is not detected by any computers, and any plugs. It makes a sound. Apparently, there is a physical damage, and I am not sure how true that is. Moreover, the guys broke open the HDD and then gave it back to me. So I dunno what they tampered with it. How do I solve this?

2. The other option is, try and recover the folder in question (the folder had all sorts of media, documents and software and was about 20GB I think) from either the laptop or the desktop, cos I am sure I had pasted the whole folder in one of the computers before transferring to HDD and deleting using Shift+Delete on the computer.

Please help me!

 

If the drive is making a clicking sound it is a likely sign the read/write needle is either stuck or not moving properly (similar to a defective tone arm on an old-style record player).

If a professional data recovery service goes to work on it, it is possible they can salvage data from the sectors that haven't been damaged or gouged by the read-write needle failing (again, think of an old vinyl LP that skips - these are the areas where data recovery is unlikely).

The big question is which 70% of the data can be salvaged. Since there is no way of telling if the 20GB file you need most is in a recoverable part of the drive, it's unfortunately a crap shoot.

The definition of an "opened" hard drive is critical.

If they removed the outer external casing (where the usb and power adapters are) and left the actual internal drive intact, recovery is possible.

If they opened up the internal drive (removing the screws and exposing the needle and platters), the drive is toast - period. Professional data recovery services open and work on hard drives in a "clean room" (absolutely 100% dust free) - this is one of the reasons hiring them is so pricey.

A legitimate professional data recovery service should have pictures of their "clean room" in their marketing materials and offer a written guarantee that they will only charge you for the amount of data recovered - no recovery, no fee.

If you think the file in question was on your PC at one time, you can download and run a program such as Undelete 360:

http://majorgeeks.com/Undelete_360_d6760.html

No guarantees; however it may be able to recover part or all of the file from your PC's hard drive if it hasn't been overwritten yet.:

Hope you're able to recover what you need without spending a fortune.