I know it sounds a lot, but that's pretty cheap for the data recovery business - you sometimes have to pay a lump sum before they even do anything and then a fee per Gb of data that they can successfully restore. Can work out into thousands if you've got lots of data. If that £460 is an all-in price then I'd say you'd struggle to get cheaper than that, if your data isn't easily replaceable then snap their arm off!

One online place has said, if recoverable, should only be between £95-£175... which seems a little more reasonable....

If it's just a boot table corruption then it'll be easy to recover.
If on the other hand it's hardware failure then the online guys won't be able to do it and once they've finished trying the pro guys won't be able to try either.

You really need to get the drive out of the caddy to test it.
Does the mac see the usb bridge part of the caddy?

It didn't work when I used the USB cable, if that's what you mean?

I'm going to try the freezer trick tomorrow, once the new drive has arrived. If that doesn't work would I be able to disassemble it myself and try the disk in a caddy?

I would suggest getting it out of the caddy and into a machine before the freezer trick.
The freezer trick is really a last resort as there's room for it to go horribly wrong.

What would I need then? Do I need a eSATA connector thing? (Sorry, not too up to speed on this).
When opened, is it easy to remove and plug into the connector?

The drive is more than likely SATA.
So you'll need a modernish Intel Mac - a Pro would be easiest.
However - getting into the MyBook isn't as simple as a 'roll your own' enclosure.

HOWTO open the Western Digital 500GB MyBook Premium Edition chassis
http://www.sigg3.net/b2perma.php?p=1185&c=1

How to open the Western Digital My Book 500GB
http://rebootdaily.blogspot.com/2007/03/how-to-open-western-digital-my-book.html

So, in theory I could (if it is SATA) stick directly in my MacPro here at work? Is the connection simple? It looks relatively straightforward to remove it. I do wonder if trying the freezer thing might be better first just to see if that works to retrieve the data. New drive should arrive today.

If the drive is okay, then I will get a caddy-connector thing as I can use it for a spare at home.

There are only 2 cables to connect with a sata drive. The data cable & the power. It's very easy & you can't get them mixed up.
If the mac then see's the drive you might be able to just drag the data off.
If it see's it lets you copy some data then hangs you can try the freezer trick (although I'd recommend putting the drive in a new caddy after it's been in the freezer so there's no chance on condensation dripping in to your mac)

Is it better to remove the drive from the casing first before sticking it in the feezer? Would it work to just put the whole thing in – if I seal it really well? I've bought some zipper bags so can layer up several times. And tape it up.

Remove the sata drive from the plastic caddy casing first.


Have you tried the bare drive in another caddy or machine first?

No – so I'll need a SATA caddy ideally then to plug into the Mac. Okay - will order one up today from somewhere.

I could see if it would go into the Mac... but after an earlier comment I'd be wary of condensation now....

Try the bare drive in a new caddy first.
If it's detected and you can read from it you know the old enclosure was dead.
If it's not detected then you know it's the drive and you'll probably need to get it recovered professionally.

Do not put it in the freezer until you've tested it in another caddy first.

If you hear scraping at any point from the drive then turn it off immediately

Just trying to see for sure what size disk is inside... I'm guess 3.5, but Google's not giving me much... any one know for sure?

If you have a Mac Pro, then I'd try putting the drive inside that before you try the freezer trick, you might find it was just the electronics inside the original enclosure that are faulty and the drive itself is fine. If it isn't, then tackle the freezer option - it's only a 2-minute job to put it into a Mac Pro.

Yes, it will be a 3.5" SATA drive.