Please try some of these products first (if you haven't already)... they all have free demos that will tell you if the data can be restored.. if it can, then you can purchase for a fraction of that price.. $1500 is a crime unless they need to move the platters to a new drive because of a huge hardware failure (nothing is wrong with the platters themselves)!!

I've restored data for friends before using these utilities... try them all as sometimes one just doesn't get you all the data. If all these products do not work, then it might be a problem beyond the platters themselves and more hardware related. Good Luck!

http://www.ontrack.com/easyrecoveryprofessional/
http://www.prosofteng.com/products/data_rescue_info.php