Why minutes matter with an SSD
Delete a file on a hard drive and the data stays put until something overwrites it. Most modern SSDs work differently. A feature called TRIM tells the drive which blocks are no longer needed, and the drive wipes them in the background, sometimes within minutes.
Deleted or formatted the wrong thing on an SSD? Power the computer off straight away, holding the power button down if you have to, and leave it off. While the drive has power it can carry on erasing those blocks.
We will be straight with you. If TRIM has already cleared the blocks, the deleted files are gone and no laboratory can bring them back. We check at the free consultation, and you are not charged for a recovery that does not happen.
When the drive itself has failed
The other kind of SSD loss is physical. With no moving parts to wear out, the usual culprits are the controller chip, the firmware, or electronics damaged by a power surge or liquid. The drive may vanish from the BIOS, show the wrong name or capacity, or freeze the computer whenever it is connected.
Do not keep power-cycling it, and do not run a firmware updater or secure erase tool in the hope of reviving it. The memory chips often still hold your data. The job is to repair the firmware or the board well enough to read them.
Faults we recover from
- SSD not recognised by the computer
- SSD suddenly unbootable
- Drive failure caused by bad sectors
- Failed electronic components
- Power failure or surges
- Operating system or software faults
- Virus attacks
- Accidental file deletion
- Fire, flood or water damage
SSD recovery prices
| Job | Guide price |
|---|---|
| Initial consultation | Free |
| SSD recovery (firmware or electronic board repair) | £450 + VAT to £650 + VAT |
The quote you are given is firm, and it is no recovery, no charge. Prices for other kinds of drive are on the data recovery price list.
Interfaces and makes we handle
We work on PATA, SATA, mSATA, M.2 and PCIe drives, both NVMe and AHCI, from Intel, Samsung, Western Digital, Toshiba, Kingston, OCZ, SanDisk, PNY, Micron, Crucial, Transcend and Seagate.
Is the SSD soldered into a recent MacBook? See Mac data recovery. For a drive inside a Windows machine, laptop data recovery covers the rest of the story. Older spinning disks are on the hard drive recovery page.
Questions people ask
Can deleted files be recovered from an SSD?
Sometimes. It depends on whether TRIM has already wiped the blocks the files were stored in. The sooner the drive loses power after the deletion, the better the odds. We check at the free consultation and there is no charge if nothing can be recovered.
My SSD is not detected at all. Can you still get the data?
It is often possible. A drive that is not detected tends to have a firmware or electronic fault, while the data remains on the memory chips. Recovery involves repairing the firmware or the board, which costs £450 + VAT to £650 + VAT as a guide.
Is SSD recovery harder than hard drive recovery?
It is different. There are no heads or motors to replace, but the controller scatters data across the memory chips and many SSDs encrypt it. That is why the work centres on repairing the original firmware or board.
Do I need to take the SSD out of my computer?
No. Bring or send the whole laptop or PC and we will remove the drive ourselves. You can drop it at North End Road in West Kensington, or we can collect it from your home or office and return it free of charge.