Need some help with an External Hard Drive

I need some help with my My Book Essential External Hard Drive from Western (freakin) Digital 2TB.
I bought it on 08/12/11 about 5 months ago and I have the blinking light of doom.
I plugged it into my computer and the fan starts to run and it blinks for about 30 seconds and then the fan just stops but it keeps blinking. The hard drive shows up in my Devices and Printers page but doesn't show up on my computer. I've search all online and there is no solution for this and I've tried every recovery program but it's useless because it doesn't show up in my Computer. I want to recover all my files (most of them are yaoi ^^ ) and I still have warranty but unfortunately Western Digital does not have a recovery program and I have to go to a third party, I choose this place. They said the estimate to recover my 2 TB is $1,000! but I only used up 1 TB of data on it but it's still the same price.

-Should I just pay the price to recover my data (not %100 guaranteed but they have the highest rate of recovery)
or
-Try to fix it my self, if I physically open the external drive my warranty is annulled. & any idea how to recover data from it?

And after this is all over I'm probably going to buy another External Hard Drive or CPU or Server if my WD fails again. (Gonna take Arrin's advice and have a back up)
Any suggestions? I have to store a lot of data and information so anything that is reliable and can hold 1-3 TB is good :) no Western Digital, I've already been through 1 passport and 2 external hard drive :(
Thank you~

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Originally Posted by D.Ace

I need some help with my My Book Essential External Hard Drive from Western (freakin) Digital 2TB.
I bought it on 08/12/11 about 5 months ago and I have the blinking light of doom.
I plugged it into my computer and the fan starts to run and it blinks for about 30 seconds and then the fan just stops but it keeps blinking. The hard drive shows up in my Devices and Printers page but doesn't show up on my computer. I've search all online and there is no solution for this and I've tried every recovery program but it's useless because it doesn't show up in my Computer. I want to recover all my files (most of them are yaoi ^^ ) and I still have warranty but unfortunately Western Digital does not have a recovery program and I have to go to a third party, I choose this place. They said the estimate to recover my 2 TB is $1,000! but I only used up 1 TB of data on it but it's still the same price.

-Should I just pay the price to recover my data (not 0 guaranteed but they have the highest rate of recovery)
or
-Try to fix it my self, if I physically open the external drive my warranty is annulled. & any idea how to recover data from it?

And after this is all over I'm probably going to buy another External Hard Drive or CPU or Server if my WD fails again. (Gonna take Arrin's advice and have a back up)
Any suggestions? I have to store a lot of data and information so anything that is reliable and can hold 1-3 TB is good :) no Western Digital, I've already been through 1 passport and 2 external hard drive :(
Thank you~

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Hi-Ace ...sounds more like its power source ...not the actual discs contained with in.....if I were you ...I would just go to a comp shop and get them to replace the casing....its not all that stressful on the pocket book either.... try that first ....best is, at a shop they will put it in then test it...that way you'll know for sure if it was the housing its self or the acttual drive "disc" ..if I had know you long before now ..I would have suggested the same thing to you about the others .....that way you would have had better luck with them (just did this to a drive for my sister...its working like a charm)

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Originally Posted by lemur7

Hi-Ace ...sounds more like its power source ...not the actual discs contained with in.....if I were you ...I would just go to a comp shop and get them to replace the casing....its not all that stressful on the pocket book either.... try that first ....best is, at a shop they will put it in then test it...that way you'll know for sure if it was the housing its self or the acttual drive "disc" ..if I had know you long before now ..I would have suggested the same thing to you about the others .....that way you would have had better luck with them (just did this to a drive for my sister...its working like a charm)

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Some suggested this but there's not computer shops near by. do you know any good retail store that does this? Or is it too risky to do it myself?

well ...a retail store might switch the casing ...but most likely will not test it(you can ask first if they will) .... plus you opened the box ..so they may make you buy it..... you can buy a housing yourself ..yes ...and it is very easy to do .... but you will be out the housing price if it doesn't work... it is very much worth the try ...try to go to a good retail store and ask if you feel you need them to switch it for you ....you can see if there's a small electronic repair shop near you ...they can help too ...you'll need to look around ..but I'm sure you'll be fine...

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Originally Posted by lemur7

Hi-Ace ...sounds more like its power source ...not the actual discs contained with in.....if I were you ...I would just go to a comp shop and get them to replace the casing....its not all that stressful on the pocket book either.... try that first ....best is, at a shop they will put it in then test it...that way you'll know for sure if it was the housing its self or the acttual drive "disc" ..if I had know you long before now ..I would have suggested the same thing to you about the others .....that way you would have had better luck with them (just did this to a drive for my sister...its working like a charm)

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Like Lemur said, a new case will most likely be the solution. Any electronic computer shop sells them and just ask if someone can put it in. However putting it in yourself is not very hard, even youtube had instruction videos on how to do it.
If you really want to be sure that the hdd is intact just add it to your computer with the proper cable, but in this case I dont think it is needed.

@lemur7 and @KarumA

thanks for the help guys, but unfortunately it didn't work :/ so I guess I'm gonna have to cough up the money. Thanks though :)