I have a 40GB external

Question

I have a 40GB external hard disc which i connect via usb port to my laptop.The external hard disc developed a problem,it was not mounting, but with the use of getdata back software i was able to retrieve data from it and then copy the data to my laptop,after which i formatted the external hard disc and started saving entirely new data in it. Unfortunately due to a fire outbreak, my laptop was burnt to a useless state.This tragedy caused me to buy a new laptop of 250GB hard disk ,2G RAM and 1.87GHz processor speed.My external hard disk however was not lost in the fire.The external hard disk also works well with my new laptop.My problem now is "how possible is it to retrieve the information that was initially in the external hard disk before i formatted and saved new information on it?"Is there any software or technique that can be used?I am referring to the information that was on the external hard disk when it had a problem, that is the info i was able to save to my laptop using get data back software .I tried using getdata back software again but it only displays the info that is on the hard disc after formatting.I will be overjoyed if a solution to this is been posted to me ,considering the importance of this data.I can be reached via my email at [e-mail] u.