Yeah I don't think there's anything to do except send it out to a company and get them to try to recover the files... I've looked into time machine, but as you pointed that out, it doesn't work external hard drives... Gonna cost me quite some money most likely. A buddy of mine had a problem a few years back and cost him 1000$ and a girl I know recently had a defect in hers and it cost her 2000$ to get it fixed and get her files back...

The guy did mention that I could try to use Disk Utility and repair the drive but I can't see it anywhere.

If only I had backed up my skate footy and photos, I couldn't care less about the rest... I guess we learn from our mistakes lol