I have a friend who swears by Stellar Phoenix. But I know nothing about it and have no experience with it.

I do know that if you have pr0n on your drive (even deleted pr0n), then don't *ever* send in a drive for professional data recovery. If any of the pictures turn out to be of girls under 18, you can be prosecuted rather severely. Data recovery companies *do* report this stuff to the FBI. The Patriot act is one excuse they use to snoop for this kind of stuff, believe it or not.