Help with a dead WD external...please..

Hello, avid forum visitor, first time poster...

I come here to ask if any knows of any repair shops or persons that can retrieve files from a dead hard drive..No clicking, just dead, no lights and doesn't spin...

Its a WD 500gb external..

I ask not for myself, but for my sister, I really want to help her..

She has been working on her thesis for several years now, and once it was completed, her only step was to print it out and get it bound and receive her masters....but unfortunately, the hard drive died before she could print it....she was given and extension to turn it in, but its very difficult to compile several years worth of researcher in 3 months time.

She has brought it to WD hq, and they were not able to extract anything, but did give her a replacement...

So now i come to this community in hopes of finding some1 here that can help...We live in southern cali, and are willing to travel (only in Cali) or ship it anywhere if the chances of her thesis being recovered is greater than none...

Thank you for any help or advice...hope to here from anyone...

Professional data recovery companies can be expensive but the cost in this case can be justified. Here is one of many that you get if you Google http://www.vantagetech.com/
I personally do not have any experience with any of them but believe this is what you will need.

Remove the drive from the case, plug it in directly into a computer as a secondary drive. If you are getting nothing out of the external drive chaces are the drive itself is fine but the case is bad.