Data Recovery around here?

I'm pretty sure that TekServe (23rd St, Manhattan) does data recovery. Don't know of any places in BK.

I don’t know the extent of how serious your problem is, but Kroll Ontrack does have a branch in New Jersey. They are REALLY expensive, but REALLY good. If they can’t recover your lost data, no one can.

http://www.ontrackdatarecovery.ca/data-recovery-locations/north-america/

Good luck!

Since this is an external hard drive, try this.

Take the external hard drive and put it in your freezer. Keep it in your freezer for 24 hours. Then, with the hard drive still in the freezer (with the freezer door opened up a crack enough for the data cable), connect the external hard drive to your laptop. You might be surprised that your computer will be able to recognize the external hard drive, and you will have a small window of opportunity to copy the files (don't move them) to your laptop or to another external hard drive.

I've used this method several times to recover data from crashed hard drives and it has worked most of the time.

After you try the freezer trick (I hope you don't blow any electronics on it) call WWW.KROLLONTRACK.COM they are the best in data recovery. They have an office in Secaucus and you can drop off the drive yourself.