Do Solid State Drives crash as well? The answer is a simple yes.
Are these recoverable? SSD recovery is definitely Possible in most cases!!!
Recovering data from accidentally deleted, formatted, or virus infected SSDs is no brainer at DISK DOCTORS... Our real expertise is geared to recover SSDs utterly ravaged by electrical surges, damaged blocks, corrupt service area, corrupt firmware, toasted controller, water, and fire Best of all, you get to receive most qualified recovery service and fast results!!!
Before I delve into what things could go wrong with the SSD… and how is it possible to fix it and restore valuable data, I would like to talk about SSDs a bit in more detail so that you know what is involved when it comes to rescue data from a crashed SSD.
What Is Inside a Solid State Drive?
That crashed SSD you have in your hand is just like a big flash drive... Although it has a lot more memory microchips when compared to a standard memory stick as compared in the picture here. SSD employs complex RAID algorithms of data distribution across these memory chips; that not only helps to increase the data access speed but results in improved drive reliability as well.
The two key components of SSD are the controller and the memory chips to store the data.
Memory: Traditionally the primary memory components in an SSD had been DRAM, but lately NAND memory has replaced it.
Controller: Every SSD includes a controller that incorporates the electronics to bridge the NAND memory components to the host computer. The controller is an embedded processor that executes firmware-level code and is one of the most important factors of SSD performance.
Some of the functions performed by the controller include…
- Error correction (ECC)
- Wear leveling
- Data Striping
- Bad block mapping
- Read scrubbing and read disturb management
- Read and write caching
- Encryption
Battery or super capacitor: Another component in higher performing SSDs is a capacitor or some form of battery. These are necessary to maintain data integrity.
Host interface:
The host interface is not specifically a component of the SSD, but it is a key part of the drive. The interface is usually incorporated into the controller discussed above. Most SSD interfaces are listed here…
- Serial ATA (SATA) [Most Common]
- USB
- Parallel ATA (IDE)
- Parallel SCSI
- Serial attached SCSI
- Fibre Channel
- PCI Express
Common SSD Issues:
The stats of failures in SSD are on the rise since SSDs are now used heavily as system disks. Based on our observation, here are few of the most common issues that SSDs suffer from.
- Damaged blocks
- Service area data corruption
- Damaged controller microchip
- Damaged logical board
- Logically corrupt file system
- Accidental data deletion
Bad Blocks: You will be amazed to know that in most flash devices up to 2% to 10% of blocks may be error prone or unusable when the SSD at the time of manufacturing which are catalogued. And when in usage, the data in "good blocks" can later be corrupted by charge leakage, disturbance from writes in adjacent cells of the chip, and wear-out during read/write process on SSDs. If the bad blocks exceed the budgeted number for any reason- the SSD would fail.
Corrupt Service Area: SSD have areas that are used to keep service information necessary for drive functionality. These areas do not have user data stored, but rather used to store information about drive functions. Any corruption of information in this section affects the whole drive and as a result it does not work anymore.
Controller Failure: Any damage or problem with SSD controller renders the drive useless. Data can be extracted without resolving the issues with the controller.
File System Corruption: File system corruption mostly results from some virus activity. This can be dealt with relative ease.
Service Area Data Corruption: Any data corruption in this area always spells a disaster for SSD. The data is recoverable only after successfully addressing the issues in this area.
Damaged Logical Board: Any external physical impact to SSD can damage the logical board and electronic components installed on it rendering SSD useless.
Disk Doctors’ Solid State Drive (SSD) Recovery Department is Always Ready to Help…
SSD Recovery might be a challenge somewhere else; but at Disk Doctors with the help of our dedicated R&D department, expertise, and experience… we can easily diagnose and sort out SSD problems; fix the issues, and regain the lost data in shortest possible time. The recovery process can take anywhere from few minutes to few days depending on nature of issue at hand.
If you have any question or concerns regarding your SSD recovery, feel free to reach us at 1-800-347-5377.
To expedite the recovery process please click the “Submit Your Case” button; fill out the service form, and bring in or ship in its printout along with crashed SSD for analysis & recovery.
