Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I purchased this drive to back up my computer files prior to reformatting the drive and selected it primarily because of the positive consumer feedback. I was able to copy my files to the drive, but I have since been unable to access anything on the drive. I have contacted Seagate and they have admitted that it is a faulty drive, and while the drive is covered by warranty and they are willing to replace it, they stipulate that data recovery is not covered. I contacted the data recovery department, and they estimate that it will cost between $600-1800 to access my files. This is highly frustrating because the reason I can't obtain the files is because they sold me a faulty product. Also, while they will replace my original drive, they require that I return the original one, which I am unwilling to do because I still want to try to recover the data that is stored on it. So now I have no computer files and no working external hard drive. Seagate still has the money I paid for the drive. I feel like my files are being held hostage for this data recovery fee. I can't tell you the hours of frustration that this has caused me, and the matter still is not resolved.