The flash still held the catalogue; the controller running it had stalled. Reaching it directly and rebuilding its map brought the data back.
A photographer’s Samsung T7 — the pocket-sized external SSD their working catalogue lived on — was unplugged partway through a write, and from that point on no computer would recognise it. Yanking a solid-state drive out mid-write is a classic way to upset its controller, and that’s what had happened here.
Connected to our equipment, the T7 either didn’t appear at all or reported an identity that made no sense — both signatures of a controller that has fallen over rather than flash that has failed. On any SSD the memory chips almost always survive this; the problem is that the chip in charge of them has stopped talking, which leaves the data sitting there but with no way in through the ordinary connection.
The way back is through the controller itself. On the PC3000 we brought it up in its technical mode, cleared the fault it had locked into, and read out the internal structures it keeps. The one that mattered was the translator — the lookup table that turns the tidy logical drive the computer expects into the sprawling physical layout of the flash — and it had lost consistency. We rebuilt it, at which point the drive’s contents could be addressed once more, and imaged everything to a copy. A handful of flash blocks had worn out along the way, which is normal wear on any SSD in daily use, and that trimmed a little from the very edges.
We reconstructed the file system from the image and opened a representative slice of the catalogue to confirm the files were sound, then wrote it all to fresh media.
Practically the entire catalogue was recovered, five working days from arrival. SSDs tend to fail like this with next to no warning, so they’re best thought of as quick working storage with a proper backup standing behind them — never the sole home for anything you couldn’t bear to lose.
PC3000 — controller recovered in technical mode, translator rebuilt, then imaged on our bench. A copy is taken first and the original is never altered.
Send us your device for a free diagnostic, and tell us a little about what happened — an engineer will review it and confirm your exact quote in writing before any work begins.
Getting your data back begins with getting the device to us. Pack it up safely, pop your contact details inside, and send it over — once we’ve run the free diagnostic, we’ll confirm your exact price in writing before any work starts.
Posting it? A tracked, insured service is what we’d recommend. Rather drop it in? You’re welcome Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm — just package the device up as above first.
Want a bit more detail first? Fill in the form with more about your issue and an engineer will review it and send you a custom quote.
We’ll be in touch shortly. For anything urgent, call 01483 901310.
Usually not. When a portable SSD drops offline the flash is nearly always intact and it’s the controller that’s stalled. On the PC3000 we bring the controller back and rebuild its internal tables to reach the flash; sometimes we read the memory chips directly instead.
USB sticks and memory cards are from £250 plus VAT, and portable SSDs from £300 plus VAT. No fix, no fee on most jobs.
Best not to — unplugging an SSD mid-write is a common way to knock its controller into a fault state, exactly what happened here. Eject it properly, and keep a separate backup of anything important.
Start with an instant online quote, or call and talk it through with us first. You'll have a clear, fixed price before any work begins.