On Tue, 16 Mar 2021 06:11:14 -0700, Taxed and Spent wrote:

> usually when you take it to the shop they solution is to format the hard
> drive. Data? Not our problem.

C'mon. You tell them you want the data. It's not a problem; it's an
opportunity. Then they can (for a fee) try changing the on-board
controller, if they can find an identical model where the medium has
failed. Then they can at least tell you definitively that *your* medium
has failed. You still don't have your data, but now at least you know it
is truly gone.