SSDs and flash media rarely warn you. A controller dies, the firmware translation layer corrupts, or the NAND simply wears out, and the device disappears from the system. Recovery here is chip-level work: read the raw NAND, rebuild the translation layer, then rebuild the file system.
Almost none of this is repairable with software, because the device stops presenting the data to the operating system at all.
The drive vanishes from BIOS or shows 0 MB. The NAND is fine, the chip that maps it is not.
The mapping between logical blocks and physical NAND pages is damaged, so the device reports garbage or nothing.
Blocks exhaust their program and erase cycles and the drive drops to read-only or stops responding.
A write interrupted mid-program corrupts the mapping tables, which is the usual cause of a dead SSD after an outage.
Broken USB sticks, cracked SD cards and burnt PCBs, where the NAND package itself is still intact.
Cards and small drives where the controller and NAND share one package, read through test pads under a microscope.
Evaluation and quotation are free. You pay only after we show you a verified list of what was recovered, and only if you approve it. Nothing recovered means nothing invoiced.
Every case follows the same audited path. You get a case ID at step one and can ask for status at any point.
An engineer, not a call centre, works out what failed and whether the media should be powered on again at all.
We collect the device from your location, logged and sealed, or you send it in by courier.
A full diagnostic report: the fault, the recoverable scope, the turnaround time and a fixed price.
Sector-level imaging in a Class 100 environment, then reconstruction from the image. The original is never written to.
Online or on site, you check the recovered files before any invoice is raised.
Data is delivered on fresh encrypted media. Our working copies are sanitised to standard and the NDA stands permanently.
Once the raw NAND is read, the ECC, XOR and interleaving have to be undone before there is a file system to recover at all. That work is what decides the outcome.
The first hour decides how much is recoverable.
Generally it is harder. A hard drive stores data in a way that survives the electronics failing. An SSD hides its data behind a controller and a translation layer, and when those fail, the raw NAND has to be read and reassembled before anything is readable.
Often not, and it is important to be straight about this. TRIM tells the drive to erase deleted blocks in the background, usually within minutes, and once erased they are gone. Deleted-file cases on an SSD are only worth attempting if the drive was powered down immediately.
Usually not. If the NAND package survived, the chip is removed and read directly, and the data reassembled outside the device. A broken connector or cracked board is one of the better flash cases to have.
No. That message means the file system header is damaged, not that the data is gone. Formatting writes a new empty file system over the top and reduces what can be recovered.
Free consultation, free pickup, a fixed quote before any work starts, and an invoice only if you get your data back.
Data Recovery Lab