What is the simplest (and cheapest?) way to fix an external hard drive??

So basically at one point i plugged my laptop charger into my external by complete mistake and apparently i could have fried the motherboard? However, i hear there is a chance i can recover the data so how would i go about this? Also what are my chances in peoples opinions??

I have a 500Gb WD external, would be good if i could retrieve my old university work, pictures as well as other backed up home computer files

I shall be very greatful if someone could help me out

The only way you can do it is with the help of some dedicated recovery software like GetDataBack, ParetoLogic Data Recovery Pro or EasyRecovery (Standard Edition). this will cost you around 70 $. You should also go through this post containing some more applications with description and little bit of help on recovering data from the crashed HDD: http://forums.techarena.in/hardware-...ls/1131673.htm

Thanks for that mate, exact answer i was after really

Im thinking of trying the freezer method, if not taking it to someone who knows what theyre doing to have an attempt and if not maybe look into purchasing one of them programs if i find a cheap option

External SSD drives have Flash chips in them and they are very much reliable as compared to cylindrical drives. I had just having a SSD which was not working properly in the system. I found that this was first a software issue and got my data back. Luckily that was under warranty and I got a good replacement for that. Try to use the same on a high speed usb port and with appropriate drivers.