The most frightening aspect of an SSD vanishing from your computer (not showing up in the BIOS, displaying zero bytes, or simply being missing) is that you had no prior warning. However, this is also one of the more recoverable types of SSD failures: your memory chips and your data are almost always intact, just cut off by a controller that has stopped working. To obtain access to your data, we either have to revive the controller or read the memory itself. We recover undetected SATA, M.2 and NVMe drives for clients all over the UK: first get a quote by phone or using our online form; once you’ve got a quote, send us your drive by post or drop it off at our Belfast lab (no appointment needed).
The majority of the time when SSDs vanish they have suffered some type of controller or firmware failure; your data remains stored on the NAND memory awaiting retrieval.
A hard drive generally will show signs of failure prior to failure whereas an SSD tends to fail without giving you any indication that anything went wrong. The most common reason for this type of failure is when the controller (the chip that manages the memory and controls how the SSD communicates with your computer) dies. When this happens the entire SSD disappears from view. It will not be visible in your BIOS, will not appear in Windows, may display as having zero capacity, or its displayed size will be completely wrong. It looks like the drive is dead, but the NAND flash memory chips containing your data are virtually never damaged during such failures; the SSD just cannot access these chips because of the loss of the read/write circuitry.
That’s what makes a ‘not detected’ SSD often recoverable. The data is on there. We just need to access it. At times we can coax the controller back into a working (readable) condition. Other times, we bypass the controller altogether and read from the memory chips directly. In either case, an SSD that has vanished is more often a hardware problem where the data remains intact than genuine data loss.
Dead controller. This is the most common reason for this type of failure: there’s no detection of your drive, or it reports an incorrect size. The NAND on the board will still have good data on it; however, your controller has died, and the data is reached either by reviving the controller or by getting direct access to those chips.
Reports 0 MB / 0 GB. You’re seeing the drive, but it’s reporting that it has no capacity (or only a small amount) when, in fact, your drive does have capacity; this is due to a problem within the firmware or controller of your drive. Your data hasn’t gone; your drive simply can’t report its own status properly.
Bricked firmware. Firmware bugs, botched updates or a power-related event can put your drive into ‘panic’ or ‘safe’ mode, where it won’t mount. This is recoverable with the right tools to communicate with the drive while it’s in one of these states.
Power-loss corruption. In cases where your computer loses power during a write operation, the mapping tables the drive uses to locate data may become corrupted. Your NAND still has good data on it. It’s a matter of rebuilding the indexing tables.
Physical or connector damage. If you have a damaged M.2 stick or a burnout on one of the connectors, and the NAND survived, then the data will be retrieved from the chips themselves.
Do not initialise, format or partition the drive if Windows prompts you to when it briefly appears: this writes data to the disk, which can destroy the mapping information needed to recover your lost files. Do not attempt to reflash the firmware by hand so that you are able to ‘unbrick’ it: typically a failed reflash will make it harder or impossible to recover your files. Do not keep power-cycling a locked-up device with hopes that it will become functional again. And do not use “fix” utilities or manufacturer programs that will cause the device to be written to or wiped clean. Restraint is far more beneficial to protecting your data when dealing with an SSD than is experimentation: keep the device as it is and allow it to be examined.
We use specialist SSD tools to communicate with the SSD’s controller and firmware when accessible, which allows us to put the SSD into an engineering mode, allowing the SSD to become readable again; at this point we can also create an image of the SSD. When the controller is broken or the SSD has been physically damaged, we will access the memory directly through chip-off and monolithic recovery: we remove or read the NAND chips on a programmer. Raw NAND is simply the controller’s scrambled version of your data, therefore once we have reversed the error correction, wear-levelling and scrambling that was applied to the raw NAND, we are able to restore your files to their original condition. As this process is very specific to each individual drive, it requires a lot of intricacy and is performed solely on images of the drive’s NAND chips (never the actual physical NAND), so our recovery process cannot make things worse.
The entire process begins with a complimentary diagnostic. We establish whether the issue lies within the controller, firmware, NAND or connector of the SSD, and we provide you with an honest assessment of what is recoverable. We will also provide you with a fixed written quote, with a file listing to check, prior to performing any paid-for services. On most jobs, you only pay if we recover your data, and our pricing is always based upon a per case basis. This service may be used via postal delivery or drop-off; therefore, there is no requirement for you to be local. First, obtain a quotation either via telephone or using the contact form provided. Once you have received the quotation, please send your SSD to us via postal delivery from anywhere within the UK or Ireland, or feel free to drop off your SSD in person at our lab (you do not require an appointment).
In most cases, no. An SSD that disappears from the host computer will nearly always have experienced some form of controller or firmware failure; the memory chips containing your data, however, are typically intact, just cut off. We recover it by restoring the functionality of the controller if feasible or by accessing the NAND chips themselves in those instances where this is not achievable. This is among the more recoverable SSD failures, so do not assume the worst.
This is very often a case of a firmware or controller malfunction: the device is recognised but is unable to properly identify itself. Your data is still located on the device (it has not been erased); the drive simply cannot present its true size. When you receive messages asking you to initialise or format the drive, do not do so, as this can overwrite the mapping information. We will recover your data using either the controller or through direct access to the NAND chips.
Yes, often. A failed firmware update or a power event can lock an SSD into ‘safe mode’, which will prevent it from mounting, but there is usually no loss of data because the data remains on the NAND. To communicate with a drive that is in this state, specialist tools are required to speak to the drive and restore it, or to read the NAND chips directly. Do not attempt another reflash yourself, as this usually causes further damage.
M.2 SSD stick, yes: we treat an M.2 stick just like any other SSD. Soldered storage, no: when the memory is soldered to a laptop board, including Apple Silicon and T2 based Mac computers, we do not accept it and will tell you so before you send anything.
Not if the data is important to you. Many manufacturer tools which may “reset”, “re-initialise” or “firmware flash” a drive can also delete or overwrite any existing data when performing these actions. If you’re looking for a working drive and don’t care about any data on it, go ahead and use their software. But if you want access to the original data, stop first and have it recovered by us prior to using those tools.
No. Although our lab is located in Belfast, we perform all of our undetected SSD recovery services via postal or drop-off services, so we work with clients throughout the UK and Ireland. Contact us either by phone or through the web form to receive a quote first. Once you’ve received a quote, send your SSD to us via insured, trackable postage, or drop it off in person at our lab (no appointment required). Wherever you are, the service, diagnostics and prices will be the same for all customers.
Do not initialise, format, or reflash the drive; contact us immediately. We’ll determine if the issue lies with the controller, firmware, or the actual NAND of the drive. Then we’ll honestly advise you on what data is recoverable from the damaged drive, along with providing you a fixed quote prior to doing any chargeable work. In most cases you only pay if we recover your data.