Password protection is a thorny subject. Whilst I would be frustrated if I forgot my password and locked myself out of my data, I would be perhaps more upset if this password were easily cracked by anyone who wanted to know how.
That said, I don’t believe any data recovery company is able to read your password using any of their proprietary tools. Instead they probably resort to brute force dictionary attacks in the hope that a typical user will have chosen a weak password that is vulnerable to such an approach. In your case they would circumvent the HDD lockout by reverting to a version of bridge firmware that isn’t limited to a maximum of 5 unsuccessful password challenges.
FWIW, here is a current thread on the subject, but I don’t feel comfortable with the claims of any of the parties involved:
http://forum.hddguru.com/unlock-smartware-password-true-t20227.html
