Bit of a Moan After Losing 5TB of My Astrophotography

What a numpty for not having a backup. The one and only hard drive that I didn't have 3-4 copies of, and it's the one that failed. I've lost some of my best work from July 2018 to February 2019. It's NOT been a good week for this old gal! (lol)

The Seagate Backup Plus External USB 5TB hard drive suddenly disappeared from my Mac with a 'Disk Ejected Improperly'. I changed the cable out and even used another computer, but it wouldn't mount or even show in Disk Utility.

I did try 4 recovery software programs but none of them could find the drive either. The light was lit on the drive, also you could hear a slight hum from it similar to my other external drives though a bit louder, but no clicking sounds or beeps, etc.

I did contact a data recovery service company, but the estimate was between $400 to $2500. Many reviewers said the estimates are nearly at the max end of the estimates, so it's a no go for me. My bad.

1:03pm to 1:26pm Thursday Feb 21, 2019, NE Ohio, 47°F (8°C) - Sun in the Southern Sky

~Jayling
(Ohio is in the Eastern Time Zone)
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-Nikon P1000 with 125x optical zoom (3000mm) & 500x digital zoom (12,000mm)
-Atomos Ninja Flame 7" 4K Field Monitor/Recorder
-B&W ND Filters, 10 Stop & 6 Stop Stacked for Solar Viewing
-B&W UV Haze Filter
-Benro C373T Carbon Fiber Tripod Legs
-SkyWatcher AZ-GTi Alt-AZ Telescope Mount