SSD data recovery

How an SSD differs from a hard drive

A solid state drive stores data in NAND flash memory chips instead of on spinning platters. It has no moving parts, so it is faster and more shock resistant than a hard drive. It also fails in different ways, and recovering it needs different knowledge and equipment.

Every SSD has a controller, a small processor running its own firmware. The controller decides where each piece of data is stored, spreads wear across the chips, corrects errors, and on most modern drives encrypts everything it writes. Your files are not laid out on the chips in any readable order. The controller's translation tables are the only map.

What SSDs look like in 2026

2.5-inch and M.2 SATA

Still common in older laptops, desktops and NAS caches. Samsung 870 EVO, Crucial MX500, Kingston A400, WD Blue.

M.2 NVMe

The standard in almost every current laptop and desktop, in 2230, 2242 and 2280 lengths. PCIe 4.0 and 5.0 drives run hot and reach read speeds above 14,000 MB/s.

Soldered storage

Many thin laptops, tablets and handheld consoles use BGA SSDs, eMMC or UFS chips soldered to the motherboard. Apple silicon Macs use raw NAND tied to the logic board. See Mac recovery.

Enterprise SSDs

U.2, U.3 and E1.S/E3.S NVMe drives and SAS SSDs in servers and storage arrays, often in RAID. See RAID recovery.

Portable SSDs

USB-C and Thunderbolt drives such as Samsung T7 and T9, SanDisk Extreme, Crucial X10 and LaCie Rugged SSD.

QLC flash

Budget and high-capacity drives store four bits per cell. They are cheaper per gigabyte and wear out sooner under heavy writing.

How SSDs fail

Controller or firmware failure

The drive is not detected, shows a factory name such as SATAFIRM S11, or reports a capacity of 0 bytes or a few megabytes. The NAND usually still holds your data. We put the controller into a diagnostic mode and rebuild its translation tables with vendor-specific tools.

Power-loss corruption

A sudden power cut during a write damages the translation tables. The drive locks up or goes read-only.

NAND wear and bad blocks

Cells wear out with use and lose charge over time, faster in heat. Files read back corrupt, or the drive becomes extremely slow.

Electronic damage

Shorted capacitors, failed power chips or liquid damage on the board. Board-level repair brings the original controller back so the data can be read.

Firmware bugs

Several well-known models have shipped with firmware that locked the drive or wore it prematurely. We keep track of these and the fixes that keep data intact.

Deleted files, TRIM and encryption

Recovery of deleted files from an SSD is sometimes possible when TRIM was disabled, when the drive sat behind a USB adapter or RAID controller that did not pass TRIM, or when the computer was powered off quickly. We will tell you honestly at evaluation whether there is anything to recover.

Encryption is the other big change. Windows 11 now turns on BitLocker device encryption by default on most new installations, and macOS encrypts the internal drive on every modern Mac. We can recover an encrypted SSD, and you will need to supply the recovery key or password. Your BitLocker key is normally saved in your Microsoft account.

Chip-off and NAND-level recovery

When a controller cannot be revived, the memory chips can be removed and read directly. This chip-off method works on many older SSDs and on most USB drives and memory cards. It is described on our NAND flash recovery page. On most current NVMe drives the controller encrypts the data, so the work focuses on repairing the original drive.

Models we recover, 2013 to 2026

Examples of the model numbers we see most often, grouped by the years each range was sold. The model number is printed on the sticker on the drive itself; on M.2 drives fitted in a laptop you may need to remove the base cover to read it.

Not listed? These are examples, not limits. If your model is missing we almost certainly still recover it. Give us the number when you start a case.

Brands we recover

We recover SSDs from Samsung, WD and SanDisk, Crucial and Micron, Kingston, Seagate, Gigabyte and AORUS, SK hynix, Solidigm, Kioxia, Intel, Sabrent, Corsair, ADATA, Teamgroup, Lexar, PNY, Transcend, Patriot and OCZ. We also recover SSDs configured as RAID 0 or RAID 1 in gaming laptops and workstations.

Call RMLD on (951) 595-8065 for advice on your SSD.