Devices · solid-state and NVMe drives
You can't hear anything when using an SSD. You just switch off the computer normally, and the next morning there are no drives listed in the BIOS. Most of what we get falls into three categories: the controller dies, the firmware gets corrupted, or the power fails while writing data. These three also appear everywhere across London, on an instrument PC in a Croydon industrial unit and on a domestic computer in Enfield, and more of them carry a WD or Crucial label than any other. Everything occurs at the flash level, and the work goes better when it is done earlier rather than later. A single drive costs £300 + VAT after the free look.
Put it to an engineer — the first look costs nothing
0203 0868633
| What is going on | The usual reason for it | Where that leaves you |
|---|---|---|
| It names itself SATAFIRM S11 | Only one cause: a Phison controller reverted to its ROM | Avoid the vendor utility at all costs |
| The BIOS shows absolutely nothing | Almost always the controller or firmware, with the flash behind it still sound | This becomes chip-level work |
| Shows 0GB, or a completely wrong size | The flash translation layer, which translates the physical storage location of everything, has failed | Stop the restarting |
| SMART health drops overnight | Either actual wear on the NAND, or a controller returning nonsense readings | Check the maker's advisory, then image it |
| Every read gives 0x800701E3 | That code is hardware | Image it, and use no repair tool whatsoever |
| The "Boot device not found" error message showed up, and the issue began after a firmware update. | Half-way through a firmware write it stopped, and now it can't even get to boot. | Keep it switched off |
As soon as your parcel arrives here, an engineer assigns a case number that same day, prior to determining what has really failed, which is the first thing done and costs you nothing. In addition to a note of what can and cannot be recovered from your drive, you will receive at the same time the fixed, written price for restoring what can be recovered. You can accept this quote, or decline it, which will result in no further obligation on your part and nothing owed to us.
Every time you turn on your computer, you’re taking something away from the failing drive. Instead of doing this, we bring it up in a vendor service mode, where the bench can talk to the flash directly and keep worn-out firmware from being involved in the problem.
If there’s no response from the controller, we start addressing all the individual chips separately; then our software rebuilds the translation table. On its own, a raw dump doesn't mean anything. Once the table is returned, you'll see the folder tree come back along with it.
Wear levelling was put into place to distribute one document across all the dies on the board, which is exactly what it does. Then we put the order back a piece at a time, reassemble the volume, and compare each entry to the listing that goes out with the job.
You will see what has been recovered as a list first, after which a bill exists. Accepting the list means that a bill will be issued. Rejecting the list means that a bill will not be issued, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. The recovered data travels from here back to you via new media purchased specifically for your project, with the cost of postage paid by us. Your case is not resolved (i.e., "closed") until you personally view the files on a computer of your own.
Before you accept an update: flashing writes the changes right where your data lives physically; if you lose power halfway through writing, there are no prior copies for it to fall back upon. Most go through uneventfully, so this is no reason to stop keeping up to date, but make sure to back up your files first. The one drive that should never be subjected to this procedure is one that is already malfunctioning.
During a firmware upgrade process, the laptop's system SSD stopped functioning and no data would read from it. Technical mode allowed an engineer to access a path and reassemble the translator tables for the controller until it could map out the flash again. This enabled a photographer to open their decade-long history of edit files first time.
Possibly not, but the window here is hours, not days. TRIM is why: leave an SSD plugged in and running and it will go through each block where you stored your deleted file, and clear it according to a schedule that no one requested. No spinning disk ever acted like this. Shutting down the system is usually the wrong reflex; in this case it is the right one.
Rarely. Most often, silence indicates either the controller or the firmware, with the flash memory left untouched behind them. Reading from these chips is bench work, and most of what was there comes back.
Different, not worse. Hard disks fail at their mechanical components. SSDs fail at the controller, or within the tables maintained by the controller. As long as TRIM has not already gone through those blocks, things look reasonable.
These are not supported: we don't take on any storage that is soldered to the motherboard. If you're unsure which type you may have, call us first.
It doesn't cost you anything for us to look at it. All we do is give you a breakdown of what opened and what did not, plus a single fixed price to complete, written down before you agree to let us continue. On most jobs, you only pay if we recover your data. Please don't turn on the drive until you get that breakdown.