Devices · SSDs and NVMe cards
There is nothing to hear when an SSD fails. The system powers off as normal, and on the next start the BIOS gives no sign that a drive exists. Nearly all of it falls into three categories: the controller fails, the firmware becomes corrupted, or power is lost during a write. Western Digital and Crucial drives make up most of our intake from Plymouth. We work directly at the flash, and the sooner we begin, the better.
You will be talking to an engineer
0800 6890668
| What turns up | What that points to | Where to start |
|---|---|---|
| It identifies itself as SATAFIRM S11 | Only one cause: a Phison controller has dropped back to a ROM state | Do not touch the vendor utility |
| The BIOS shows nothing whatever | Usually the controller or firmware; the flash behind it is fine | Chip-level work needed |
| Shows as 0GB, or at a capacity that is obviously wrong | The flash translation layer (FTL) has failed | Do not restart it again |
| SMART health drops off in a night | Genuine cell wear, or a controller reporting nonsense | Check the maker's advisory, then image it |
| Every read returns 0x800701E3 | This is a hardware fault | Image it, and run no repair tools |
| Firmware updated, and then: Boot device not found | The firmware write ended half finished; nothing boots now | Leave the power off it |
Whatever is delivered is booked in using a unique reference (case number) on the date it arrives at the bench. The engineer will identify the actual fault at no charge. This gives a straightforward answer on what can be recovered from the drive and what cannot, plus one written quotation. There will be no further activity until you have read and accepted the quotation.
Each power-on takes something from a failing drive. We bring ours up in a service mode we control, so the flash responds to us and the firmware that can no longer cope is kept from running.
If the controller does not respond, the flash is read directly and the translation table rebuilt in software. A raw dump by itself is useless, but once the table is rebuilt your folder structure appears again.
Wear levelling spreads parts of one document across every die fitted. That is what it was designed to do. The pieces are put back in order, the volume is reassembled, and every entry is checked against the listing before it goes out.
Give yourself time to consider it. It costs you nothing. We list all of the files we recover for you before sending out an invoice, and we only ask for payment once you have authorised it. We also buy media specifically for your recovery and send it back to you, with the return postage paid by us. The case stays here on our bench until we have your confirmation that the files open properly on your own machine.
Know this before you update: updating firmware overwrites the area holding the record of where your files live. If power is lost partway, there is nothing older to fall back on. Most firmware updates complete without any trouble. Take a copy first anyway. Do not update a drive that is already misbehaving.
A firmware update was still running when the laptop's system SSD gave up, and nothing would read from it afterwards. Working in technical mode, an engineer restored the translator tables, and ten years of the photographer's edits opened again.
Perhaps, if you act today rather than this evening. Because of TRIM, an SSD wipes the blocks used by a deleted file by itself, on its own schedule, for as long as it has power. Hard drives never behaved like that. This is about the only time it makes sense to pull the plug.
Rarely. When a drive says nothing, odds are the controller or firmware went down and the flash is still intact. We read the chips at the bench, and most of the data comes back.
Not more difficult, just different. Hard drives fail mechanically. SSDs fail in their controller and in the tables that controller keeps. Where TRIM hasn't reached the blocks, things look reasonably good.
No. Flash soldered to the board (laptops made that way, plus T2 and Apple silicon Macs) isn't something we take on. If you're not sure which kind you have, ring us first.
Diagnosis costs nothing. We give you a report listing which files can be read, which cannot, and what is needed to get them off. Do not connect the drive until then.