Christian,
Can I suggest speaking to http://www.cbldatarecovery.co.uk ?

I had a hard drive fail a few years ago. I spoke to one of our IT guys at work who suggested a company to send the drive to. This I did, and a few days later the drive was returned with an invoice for something like £225. They couldnt recover any data! (This invoice was argued and reduced by around 50%, still expensive for no gain!)

So I googled data recovery specialists and liked the professional look & sound of CBL Data Recovery. They offer a free inspection and quotation only once they have received the drive. They sent a quote for a little under £1000 and suggested they could recover all the data!

As it happens I didnt get it done, but I still have the drive and know they can recover it if I ever feel flush enough to get it done!

Might be worth a shot