External harddrive borken - what are my options?

[chrispattinson]

I have a Seagate Freeagent 750GB external HDD (USB). Last night, the magic smoke escaped, and now it smells like a GTB gone bang, and it doesnt work. I dont have the data backed up. There's quite a bit of stuff on it that I wouldn't like to lose, such as photos, work, music, some vids etc.

What are my options for getting the daa back, or is it gone?
I dont even know what is inside these things, is it just an enclosure and HDD? Could it be the enclosure that went bang?

Does anyone know any reputable companies for salvaging data?

Thanks for any help, form Chris.