Recovering data from a broken HDD

[Shamim Shahriar]

Good evening all, hope everyone is well.

a little background:
I have a couple of portable HDD. One of them was dropped a few weeks 
back, and then the computer stopped recognising it and asked it to be 
formatted. Once formatted, it appeared to start working again -- even 
though all previous data had been lost, and no, I am not trusting that 
device to hold any important data.

Last week, another HDD slipped through the hands (literally). This one 
too is showing the same/similar symptoms as the previous one. I believe 
that the data is still there, but somehow the alignment has shifted and 
hence the HDD controller is unable to provide the data. I am wondering, 
can anyone please suggest a data recovery programme that I can try on 
the drive? The HDD being not in the western/relatively-more-techy region 
cannot be sent to a data recovery company (and I have been told they 
cost you a fortune), but have access to m$ or Mac or Linux or BSD 
systems. So if anyone could please suggest something to try on (Yes, I 
had been on google, and found a huge amount of tools -- but I would much 
rather try out something that someone has already tried and can give 
some insight on).

Thanks and regards