An SSD that's vanished from the system, shows the wrong size, or has dropped into read-only usually has a dead controller or corrupt firmware — not lost data. The NAND chips still hold your files; the drive has just lost the ability to read them. It's a different discipline to hard drives, and we handle it in-house, recovering Samsung, Crucial, WD, Kingston and every other make for Belfast and Northern Ireland.
$ bdr diagnose /dev/nvme0 → Device: WD Black SN850X (2 TB, NVMe) → Status: NOT DETECTED — controller in safe mode → Client: confidential · Belfast $ bdr engineer-working → Controller: reached · garbage collection halted → Translation layer: rebuilt from NAND → Imaging: 1.9 TB / 2 TB · 99.6% read $ bdr verify → ✓ documents — 19,400 files → ✓ photos — 22,800 files → ✓ drive recovered — data back
With an SSD, writes are the enemy, and background housekeeping runs the moment it's powered. If the drive is still partly visible, don't reformat it, don't run repair tools, and above all don't try to re-flash the firmware to revive it — a failed flash can lock the controller for good. Power it down and let us diagnose it first.
An SSD fails electronically, not mechanically — and where the fault sits decides how recoverable your data is. These are the ones behind a drive that won't behave.
We recover every make and form of SSD — SATA, M.2 and NVMe, internal and external.
SATA 2.5″ SSDs, M.2 SATA and NVMe drives, add-in PCIe cards and portable SSDs — from consumer drives to enterprise, in every capacity and controller.
SSD recovery works from the inside out. Where the controller can still be reached we work through it; where it's dead, we revive it at board level or read the NAND chips directly and rebuild the drive's translation layer — always from a copy of the data.
We identify whether the fault is the controller, the firmware, the NAND or the board, and whether encryption is in play, then send a written quote.
Where the controller still partly works, we use specialist SSD tools to talk to it directly, rebuild its translation tables and read the data around the fault.
Where the controller is dead, we repair the power components on the board to revive the original controller — which keeps its encryption key and decryption engine working.
Where the controller can't be revived, we read the NAND itself and reconstruct that model's translation and wear-levelling scheme, turning scrambled flash back into files.
From the recovered data we reconstruct the partitions and file structure, so your files come back organised and named.
Recovered files are checked to confirm they open and are intact, and we can show you what's come back before anything is returned.
Your files come back on fresh media, or via our free download service for up to 75GB — whichever suits you.
From an NVMe drive that's vanished from the BIOS to a SATA SSD stuck read-only or a surge-hit board, we recover solid-state drives of every make — working at the controller level where we can, and reading the NAND directly where we can't.
Give us a few details about what went wrong and an engineer will come back to you, usually inside one working day.
We will get back to you soon. If it is urgent, call 028 9002 0144.
A free diagnostic first, then a fixed written quote before any work begins. Recovering a single SSD or NVMe drive is £300 + VAT, with no fix, no fee on most jobs — and where chip-level work is needed, a 50% deposit covers the specialist bench time, with the balance only on success.
A representative selection of SSDs and NVMe drives we've recovered across different makes and faults — device types and outcomes shown, customer details kept private.
The controller had died but the V-NAND was intact. We revived the original controller with board-level repair and imaged the drive in full.
Firmware corruption was hiding the data. We rebuilt the affected modules through the controller and recovered the full contents.
A wear safeguard had locked writes but reads still worked. We imaged it before it locked completely and recovered everything.
The drive was dropping out under load from failing NAND. We read the healthy flash and rebuilt the file system, recovering the user's data.
The controller's power section was damaged. We repaired the board to bring the original controller back, and the drive imaged cleanly.
The USB bridge had cracked; the NVMe drive inside was fine. We bypassed the bridge, read the drive directly, and recovered the data.
Post or drop in your device for a free diagnostic, with a note on what happened — an engineer reviews it and confirms your exact quote in writing before any work begins.
First step: get the device onto our Belfast bench. Wrap it well, tuck your contact details in the box, and post it over — the diagnostic costs nothing, and you’ll have a firm written price to approve before we touch a single sector.
Posting it? A tracked, insured service is best. Dropping it off instead? You’re welcome Monday–Friday, 9am–5:30pm — please still pack the device as above.
Not ready to send anything yet? Use the form to describe the fault in your own words and one of the engineers will come back with a quote tailored to your situation.
We will get back to you soon. If it is urgent, call 028 9002 0144.
The questions we're asked most about SSD and NVMe recovery.
Usually, yes. A drive that's invisible in the BIOS most often has a dead controller or corrupt firmware, with the NAND — and your data — intact behind it. It's one of the more recoverable SSD situations; we revive the controller or read the flash directly.
That's classic firmware corruption — sometimes the drive even renames itself to something like SATAFIRM S11. The data is hidden, not erased. We work through the controller to rebuild the affected firmware modules and recover the contents.
Yes — it's the same discipline as any SSD. NVMe, M.2 and SATA drives all store data in NAND behind a controller; the connector changes, the approach doesn't. We recover all three.
Usually, yes, and quickly. Read-only mode is often a health safeguard that still lets us copy the data off. The important thing is not to keep trying to write to it or reformat it — bring it to us while reads still work.
Recovering a single SSD or NVMe drive costs £300 + VAT, after a free diagnostic, and most jobs are no fix, no fee. Chip-level cases take a 50% deposit toward the specialist bench work, with the balance due only on success.
On most jobs, yes — no recovery, no fee. The exception is chip-level work, where a deposit covers the specialist bench time; the balance is still only charged on success. We're clear about which applies before any work begins.
All of them — Samsung, Crucial, WD, SanDisk, Kingston, Seagate, Kioxia, SK hynix and the rest, consumer and enterprise, in every capacity and controller.
Often not, and it's only fair to say so. Most SSDs use TRIM, which erases deleted data within seconds, so unlike a hard drive there's usually nothing left. If the drive itself has failed rather than a file being deleted, the outlook is much better.
No. Repeated reboots and recovery software keep the drive powered, and its background housekeeping can quietly erase recoverable data — and never re-flash the firmware to try to fix it, as a failed flash can lock the controller for good. Power it down and have it assessed.
A logical recovery is often done in 1 to 3 working days; controller or chip-level work typically takes 4 to 7. The diagnostic itself is usually finished within 48 hours, and urgent cases can normally be prioritised.
Call into our Belfast office on any weekday (9am–5:30pm) or post the drive in a small padded box, insured. A note inside with your name, address, email and phone number is all we need to log it, diagnose it free and put a price in writing.
Flat-rate recovery at £300 + VAT per drive, a free diagnostic up front, and no fix, no fee on most work. SSDs and NVMe sticks of every brand are handled entirely on our Belfast bench. If yours is failing, cut the power and get it to us.