Devices · SSD & NVMe drives
An SSD does not "click" or "grind"; one day you'll just be left with nothing. A dead controller, scrambled firmware, or an unplanned loss of power during a write are common culprits. On our bench, we've had Samsung's 870 EVO and WD's Blue SA510 at the head of the queue. All the action happens at the flash memory level, and nothing rewards speed more; therefore, you will want to get a quote first, either via phone call or with the form, then send it to us in the post today from Exeter, or take it into our Bristol intake lab, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm, with no appointment needed.
Talk it over with an engineer
0800 6890668
| What it says | What it usually means | Step one |
|---|---|---|
| Drive identifies as SATAFIRM S11 | That name is the giveaway. A Phison controller stuck in ROM mode | Don't let vendor tools near your drive |
| The SSD is missing from the BIOS | Controller or firmware failure, but all of your data is still intact within that NAND chip. | Bench work at the component/chip level |
| Size shows 0GB or some nonsense figure | Your flash translation layer (FTL) has crashed. | Do not reboot it again. |
| SMART health suddenly plummets | Physical wear, or false reporting from the firmware. | Check for a vendor bulletin regarding your model, then image it next. |
| An SSD volume throwing error 0x800701E3 | A read operation failed at the hardware level. | Take an image. No repair tools. |
| Boot device not found right after a firmware update | The update stalled halfway through, leaving the device unusable. | Do not turn it on. |
Your device will be logged under its own case number on the day it comes into our lab. The engineer who works on your device identifies the problem with it, clearly states what we think has a good chance of coming back and provides you with one fixed quote. There are no charges for this assessment; there is no obligation for you to do anything; and paid work does not begin until you authorise us to start.
Each time a sick SSD is restarted, it is pushed further down the path of its eventual demise. However, by booting it in a controlled service mode, we make the flash respond to our commands rather than to its own failing firmware.
If the controller refuses to play nice, then the NAND can be read directly and the translation layer rebuilt in software: the lookup that takes those raw chip dumps and converts them back into folders you can open.
As each file is distributed across all of the dies by wear-levelling, each fragment will be put back in order, then the entire file system will be restored and verified as being correct against a directory listing.
You have access to a complete list of every item recovered from your device, which you approve prior to any fees being applied. The files will be returned via new media (brand new) with the return postage paid by us, and the case remains open for as long as it takes to confirm that all the files open properly on your own machine.
In Samsung's own words: the 990 Pro notice cites 'issues with the SSD's firmware' as the cause of the alarm that the SSD was suffering 'wear', and the February 2023 fix eliminates this false wear counting without reversing the original numbers. Read the advisory first, then determine whether the drive is really worn out.
The firmware was updated incorrectly and the system drive for the laptop died. We put the drive into technical mode and rebuilt the translator tables. All of this photographer's edited catalogues, which had been stored over a ten-year period, remained intact.
Maybe, but only if you immediately shut it down. A solid state disk (SSD) will erase deleted files due to TRIM when powered on; and because of this process of deleting file fragments in the background, every minute it remains operational, more data will be erased than would ever occur with a traditional hard disk drive (HDD). So, for once, pulling the cord is correct.
Hardly ever. If a drive does not appear, it is generally because of a controller failure or loss of the firmware, rather than the NAND flash memory itself that contains all your data. Most of it can be recovered by reading directly from the chips.
Not worse, just different. Mechanical hard disk failures occur when mechanical parts stop working properly. In contrast, SSDs will fail electronically/logically, and the method to recover them will be different. However, if TRIM did not complete its function, then the possibility of recovery is high.
No, we do not take on (board-mounted, soldered) SSDs found in either laptops or Macs. In both cases, we are working with SSDs removed from the laptop or Mac. So if you're not sure which kind of SSD you have, ring us first, before sending.
Every time a failing hardware component is powered back up, there is additional lost data. First open a case with us: the inspection (look over) is always at no cost, whichever way it goes.