You know how data restoration companies do it? They take out the spindle with the platters, and put it in their own reading device with its own controller. And with that you can read and write the exact bits (as long as quantum physics allow it). But the head has to be compatible (e.g. perpendicular recording needs entirely different heads).
I bet those devices can be bought, and I bet their controller is actually just software on the computer (for flexibility). I also bet they come with different head configurations. But they are definitely not going to be cheap.
Hey, at least it is a real solution.
Having worked for a successful "data restoration company", I can say that you are absolutely incorrect. There is no mysterious 'reading device with its own controller'. Why would you even need one when the drive you're working on is often modular? Individual components can often be replaced (head stack, spindle motor, PCB, etc) from another drive that matches the original in a very specific way (this differs by manufacturer). Have you actually ever been trained to perform invasive data recovery, or are you just going by what someone told you over the phone?
On the other hand, I actually have to thank Infinity Ward for MW2, for one simple reason: it's been a while since any American game depicted a proper, honest-to-God Russian invasion of U.S. soil, complete with shelled cute "American Dream" neighborhoods and burning White House, and the overall gloomy atmosphere of verging on defeat. At least it's markedly different from your typical drivel of a U.S. Rambo squad on rampage somewhere in Siberia, taking out Russian soldiers by the thousands. Just as unrealistic, too, but hey, at least you can appreciate how it looks from the other side now. I only wish there was an option to play for the paratroopers in the initial wave
Take a look at World in Conflict for PC. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_in_conflict
With your bare hands?!?