All solid state drives (SSDs) have a gatekeeper (the controller chip) that sits between your computer and the actual flash storage that stores your files. Nine times out of ten when an SSD "fails" the actual flash is still good, but the gatekeeper will no longer respond. Recovery is about finding a way to get past this problem, which is much different than recovering from a hard drive failure.
In contrast to spinning disks that often protest when they are failing, SSDs do not. They don't have a "click" for you to detect as the disk fails, nor will they slow down. Instead, at some point in time your SSD's controller may experience a fault; immediately go into a default "panic mode"; or simply stop functioning. The result? Your drive suddenly disappears: there is no longer an entry under your operating system (no drive letters), no entry in the BIOS, sometimes the reported size shows up as 0 GB or displays the incorrect model name. People assume catastrophic loss because the silence feels total.
In reality, however, this is rarely true. The NAND chips behind the controller store your data in the exact same condition that it existed at the time that you last wrote it. All that failed is the translator, and translators can be bypassed.
The first door is technical: many controllers can be forced into what is referred to as "factory" or "safe" modes where they'll provide responses to engineering commands even if they won't normally. From there, the drive can often be imaged whole. If this door cannot be opened, then the second door can be opened more aggressively: through direct access to each individual NAND chip. Your files can then be created again from the raw image of the NAND chips, undoing in software whatever scrambling, interleaving and wear-levelling the controller did during use.
The second method requires true specialist knowledge, which is why an undetected SSD is a job for the lab and not a software task. Software can't even try to find anything to scan as there are no drives to scan.
One last lesson a hard drive will never teach you about solid-state drives (SSDs): TRIM. The moment you delete a file on a working solid-state drive, the drive performs low-level garbage collection automatically to maintain performance, and thus deleted-file recovery from SSDs is actually time-sensitive. And when an SSD comes back online briefly, it can complete that garbage collection while you wait. So if the data at issue to you is important, do not be part of the disconnect-and-reconnect-hope cycle. Shut it down, ask for a quote and drop it off.
A single drive (either internal, external, laptop or desktop) will cost a fixed £300 + VAT, whatever the fault turns out to be. A chip-level exception would occur very rarely and will always be quoted in writing first. All jobs start with a free diagnostic. On all jobs you get what we quote: the price that you were told at the beginning of the process remains the price you pay. That price goes in writing before a single sector is read, and on most jobs there is nothing to pay unless your data comes back. There are no hourly rates applied and no "evaluation fee" as a surprise addition. We do not charge based on the value of the data.
Rarely. The complete disappearance of your SSD is usually the result of an unresponsive controller. That doesn’t mean you’ve lost the actual data on the flash: we can generally access this through the controller’s “engineering” mode or if that fails to work then we can read from the NAND itself. This is where things start to hurt: when you have repeatedly cycled power off/on your chances are greatly diminished. Stop further testing and get a quote from us to send it in.
That’s the controller sending back its default name: the firmware failed and the drive sent you its “safe” name instead of the actual name. That can look very scary and is often one of the more recoverable states for an SSD since the drive is talking to us. Do not allow Windows to initialise it when it asks; that will overwrite those structures we need.
Depending on the speed of shut-down and if TRIM is enabled, sometimes yes, but less likely to be successful with SSDs than hard drives because TRIM may have already erased the flash memory below them. We will review this at no charge to you, and let you know what your prospects are prior to paying us anything.
Yes: SATA 2.5″, mSATA, M.2 (in both flavours), and PCIe NVMe, as well as those annoyingly proprietary modules used by some ultrabook manufacturers. The interface changes the tooling, not the methodology: getting past the controller, imaging every single item one time, rebuilding using that single image.
Before posting or dropping off your item please obtain a quote using either the form on this site or by calling us. There are then two genuine options. No vans will be used. To hand over your item, go to Tay House, 300 Bath Street (only two minutes from the M8) at Charing Cross, Monday to Friday, 9am–5:30pm. We do not require appointments. Or wrap your item securely and send it to us by insured, tracked post from Paisley, Ayrshire, the Highlands or anywhere else in the UK. Either way, the work is done in-house by our own engineers, with a documented chain of custody, and your data never leaves the UK.
We serve the entire country, not just the west: data recovery UK-wide by insured post, with the exact same free diagnostic, the identical fixed price in writing, and the same promise as stepping into our office: in most cases you only pay if we recover your data.
What types of failure occur in EVO SSDs, T-series portable drives, and old Spinpoints? What can be done about each? Read it here →
Quit messing around with power cycling and allow our diagnostic to perform its function: complimentary, honest & specific about what door your controller left open. Once you receive a quote, SSD data recovery in Glasgow at Charing Cross or via post from anywhere within the UK.