When an SSD or NVMe drive fails — at the controller, in firmware, or in the NAND — it drops off the bus, reports the wrong capacity, slips into a SATAFIRM safe mode, or locks itself read-only. We recover every one of these across all makes — Samsung, Crucial, WD, Kingston and the rest — working beneath the file system at controller, firmware and NAND level. SSD data recovery done this way is chip-level work, not a software scan — and on a healthy drive, a single SSD is a flat £300 +VAT.
$ bdr diagnose /dev/nvme0 → Device: Samsung 990 PRO · 2 TB NVMe → Status: NOT DETECTED — controller in safe mode → Client: confidential · Guildford, Surrey $ bdr engineer-working → Controller: reached · garbage collection halted → Translation layer: rebuilt from NAND → Imaging: 1.9 TB / 2 TB · 9sectors mapped $ bdr verify → ✓ documents — 19,400 files → ✓ photos — 22,800 files → ✓ drive recovered — data back
If your SSD has dropped off the system, shows the wrong size, or has locked read-only, power it off and unplug it. Left running, a failing SSD keeps churning through garbage collection and TRIM in the background, which can erase the very data we need for good. No rebooting, no reformatting, no repair tools — the sooner it’s off, the more survives.
From a drive that vanishes off the bus to one frozen read-only, these are the SSD and NVMe failures that cross our bench most — a failed controller, corrupt firmware, worn or unstable NAND, and logical damage riding on top of intact cells.
Every SSD and NVMe form factor is in scope — SATA, M.2 (SATA and NVMe both), mSATA, U.2 and PCIe add-in — whether current or a decade old. The controller and NAND vendor decide recoverability far more than the badge on the label.
Covering M.2 NVMe and SATA, mSATA, U.2, 2.5-inch SATA and PCIe drives · Phison, Samsung, Marvell, Silicon Motion and SandForce controllers · across internal, external and add-in-card form.
SSD recovery is a race against the drive’s own housekeeping — reach the NAND before the controller reclaims it, image it read-only, then rebuild your files from the flash. First, the controller’s background operations are frozen.
Tell us what went wrong — not detected, wrong size, read-only, won’t boot — and an engineer pins down the fault and returns a written quote, usually within 48 hours.
The SSD is attached to specialist hardware and the controller’s background operations — garbage collection and TRIM — are suspended, so it can’t reclaim and wipe the blocks holding your data.
Where the controller is dead or the firmware corrupt, we repair or bypass it and rebuild the flash translation layer (FTL) — the map from logical addresses to physical NAND pages — without which the raw cells read as noise.
A dead PCB is repaired; where the controller can’t be brought back, we lift the NAND and read the flash directly (chip-off), then undo the vendor’s interleaving, ECC and scrambling to reassemble the image.
With access restored, a strictly read-only image is taken, reading marginal NAND gently and re-reading weak pages so error correction lifts the most data.
From that image the file-system metadata is rebuilt and your files and folders extracted, recovering data even off worn or unstable cells.
Your data comes back verified on a fresh external drive, or by secure download for jobs up to 75GB.
Any SSD or NVMe make — Samsung, Crucial, WD, Kingston and the rest — brought back at controller, firmware and NAND level.
Tell us what happened and we’ll get back to you, usually within a working day.
We’ll be in touch shortly. If it’s urgent, call 01483 901310.
A single fixed price to recover one SSD or NVMe drive — after a free diagnostic and a written quote, before any work begins.
A sample of recent SSD and NVMe jobs spanning controller, firmware and NAND faults. Identifying details stripped; every result checked.
A failed controller had stopped the drive enumerating. We bypassed it, rebuilt the translation layer, and imaged the NAND.
The firmware had gone read-only to shield failing NAND. We reloaded the firmware modules and imaged it before it slipped further.
Corrupt firmware was misreporting the size. We rebuilt the service-area modules until the drive showed its true capacity, then imaged it.
A SATAFIRM panic state was showing zero capacity. We cleared the firmware fault, restored access, and recovered the data.
Surge damage to the PCB. We repaired the board and, where the controller was gone, read the NAND directly by chip-off.
Impact had cracked the board, though the flash survived. We transferred the NAND to a working platform and reassembled the data by chip-off.
Send the drive in for its free diagnostic with a brief fault description; an engineer evaluates it and confirms the exact quote in writing before any work starts.
Getting your data back starts with getting the drive to us. Pack it safely, enclose your contact details, and once we've run the free diagnostic we confirm your exact quote in writing before any work begins.
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.
Need a scoped quote first? Describe the drive and fault on the form and an engineer will assess it and reply with a tailored quote.
We’ll be in touch shortly. If it’s urgent, call 01483 901310.
The technical questions we get most about failed SSDs.
Usually. An SSD that’s vanished from BIOS or the OS most often has a failed controller, with your data sitting intact in the NAND behind it. We repair or bypass the controller, rebuild the translation layer, image the drive, and recover the files.
That’s the firmware falling into a safe or panic mode — often shown as SATAFIRM S11 or a zero-capacity reading. The data usually still sits in the NAND; we rebuild or reload the firmware modules to bring the drive back, then image it.
Yes — NVMe and M.2 drives, SATA or PCIe, are handled just like 2.5-inch SSDs: controller, firmware and NAND-level work, with chip-off where the controller won’t revive.
Often, and you should move fast. A read-only SSD is usually guarding failing firmware or NAND; if it’s still readable, copy your data off now, and if it isn’t, send it in before the controller locks it down further.
One SSD or NVMe drive is a flat £300 + VAT, starting with a free diagnostic and a written quote. Controller or board-level work takes a 50% deposit with the balance on success — so most jobs stay no fix, no fee.
On most jobs, yes. Controller and board-level recoveries take a 50% deposit and the balance only falls due on success, so an unrecoverable drive never runs up the full fee.
Every make — Crucial, Samsung, SanDisk, Western Digital, Kingston, Kioxia, SK hynix, Seagate, ADATA and the rest. Because we work at controller and NAND level, the brand rarely shifts recoverability.
Sometimes, though SSDs differ from hard drives here: TRIM tells the controller to erase deleted blocks within seconds, so recovery hinges on whether TRIM has already run. Stop using the drive immediately to keep the chance alive.
No. Each power-on hands the controller another round of garbage collection and TRIM, erasing data for good. If a drive is failing, keep it powered down and let us image it first.
Most logical and firmware recoveries finish inside three working days. Controller and NAND-level (chip-off) work takes longer, depending on the controller and the state of the flash.
Drop it at our Guildford unit, Monday to Friday 9am to 5:30pm, or post it fully insured — well packed, with your contact details enclosed.
Free diagnostic, a flat £300 + VAT per drive, no fix no fee on most jobs, and every make of SSD and NVMe drive recovered in-house at controller, firmware and NAND level. Start your recovery today.