Toshiba External hard drives get busted, can I recover the files?

Question

Somebody repaired my desktop computer and change the casing with usb connections in front. Everything seems okay until i connected my 80g external hard drive into the front usb and it can't be read. I removed and got my another external hard disc with 160g, inserted it and again it can't be read. I then realized that any drives that were inserted in the front usb get busted. I sent my two external hard disc to Taiwan since they were bought there to have the files recovered. But I was told that it can't no matter how hard they tried because the small plate or disc inside were the ones burned. The contents were too important for me, is there a way for them to be recovered?