SanDisk is everywhere flash storage is — portable SSDs, USB sticks, SD and microSD cards. They fail in their own ways, from sudden disconnects to cards that simply stop being recognised. In most cases the data can still be reached.
Whether it's a SanDisk SSD, USB stick or SD card, stop using it the moment it fails and don't reformat — that's what gives the best chance of recovery.
SanDisk is the world's most-used flash brand, and their storage turns up everywhere: Extreme and Ultra memory cards in cameras, phones, dashcams and drones; Cruzer and Ultra USB sticks; and the Extreme and Extreme Pro portable SSDs favoured by photographers and video editors. All of it is flash, so it fails electronically rather than mechanically — and how recoverable it is depends a lot on which kind of SanDisk device you have, because a portable SSD and a tiny microSD card are very different recovery jobs.
Across cards, sticks and portable SSDs, these are the faults we see most.
The flash's controller dies and the card, stick or drive simply isn't recognised, or throws a “please format” error. The data's usually still on the NAND, but nothing can read it directly.
The 2023-era Extreme and Extreme Pro portable SSDs have a well-documented failure where they suddenly drop offline and read as unformatted, losing data. More on that below.
Heavy use, a bad eject, or a power interruption mid-write can corrupt the file system or wear the cells, so files vanish or the device reads as RAW.
A snapped SD card, a bent USB connector, or water damage. Often still recoverable, because the flash itself usually survives the knock.
Fake “SanDisk” cards sold cheaply online report the wrong capacity and corrupt data. It's more common than you'd think — and we can confirm whether a card is genuine.
Two situations are worth understanding, because they're the ones we're asked about most. The first is the Extreme portable SSD. The 2023 Extreme and Extreme Pro portables — the 2TB and 4TB especially — have a documented flaw, a mix of a fragile board and a firmware bug, that makes them suddenly drop offline and appear unformatted, taking the data with them. It became well known enough to prompt lawsuits and a firmware update that didn't fully fix it. Inside, these are an NVMe SSD behind a USB bridge, and recovery means opening the case, getting past the failed board or bridge, and reading the drive directly. The second is the memory card. Most microSD cards — and many small USB sticks — are “monolithic”: the controller and the flash are fused into one tiny sealed chip, so there's no separate memory chip to lift out when the controller dies. Recovering one means exposing the microscopic contacts inside the chip itself and reading the flash directly — delicate, specialist work that's often possible but genuinely harder than recovering a normal drive, and we'll always tell you honestly what the odds are.
With flash, the data survives longer than the device — as long as nothing overwrites it.
Take the card or drive out of the camera, phone or computer the moment you notice a problem, so nothing writes to it.
Card, USB stick or portable SSD? A drop, a bad eject, or just files gone? It tells us the right approach before it arrives.
Drop it off or post it insured, and we'll tell you what failed and what's recoverable before you spend anything.
The technique depends entirely on which device it is — and it's all done in-house.
We identify whether it's a controller, flash, file-system or physical fault, and which recovery path fits. You get a clear answer and a fixed, written quote first.
We open the enclosure, bypass the failed USB bridge or repair the board, and read the internal NVMe drive directly — the route round the Extreme portable's known fault.
For a dead monolithic card or USB stick, we expose the contacts inside the chip, read the raw flash, and decode SanDisk's scrambling to rebuild the files.
For a healthy device with deleted or formatted data, we image it read-only and rebuild the file system. Either way, you get a full list before you commit.
The questions we're asked most about SanDisk devices.
Usually not. That message means the file system is damaged, not that the photos are erased. Stop using the card and don't format it — the images are typically still there on the flash and recoverable.
Very possibly. The 2023 Extreme and Extreme Pro portables have a documented fault that makes them drop offline and read as unformatted. Don't keep re-plugging it — the data is usually still on the internal drive, and we can get to it by reading that drive directly.
Often, yes, though it's specialist work. Because a microSD card is a single sealed chip, we recover it by reading the flash directly through the chip's internal contacts — harder than a normal drive, but frequently successful. We'll tell you the odds honestly before any charge.
It can. Counterfeit cards report the wrong capacity and corrupt data, and they behave differently in recovery. We can confirm whether a card is genuine as part of the diagnostic.
Memory cards and USB drives start at £250 + VAT, and portable SSDs at £300 + VAT. There's a free diagnostic and no fix, no fee on most jobs, so you only pay if we recover your data.
Whether it's a card that won't read, a dead USB stick, or an Extreme SSD that's dropped offline, take it out and send it in — we'll diagnose it free and tell you honestly what's recoverable.