A drive that failed while holding your data is usually recoverable. A file deleted from a drive that still works usually is not. Those two situations feel identical to the person affected and are almost opposite technically. A worked example: a Dell SSD caught mid-TRIM.
TRIM erases the blocks behind deleted files within minutes, and that erasure is genuine. But TRIM cannot run on a drive that has stopped responding — which is why failure preserves data that deletion destroys.
The commonest serious SSD failure is the controller or its firmware rather than the flash. The drive vanishes from the BIOS, appears with a blank model string, or reports an impossible capacity — and behind that, the NAND still holds everything. Recovery means reaching the controller in its vendor-specific technical mode, reading the translation tables that map logical addresses to physical flash, and imaging read-only from there.
Where the controller cannot be revived, the flash can sometimes be read directly. That produces raw NAND which then has to be de-interleaved, ECC-corrected and unscrambled according to that controller’s own arrangement before it means anything — slow, specialist work, and not every case justifies it.
On a working SSD, deleting a file normally triggers TRIM: the operating system tells the drive those blocks are no longer needed and the controller erases them in the background to keep write performance up. That erasure is physical and it happens within minutes. So a file deleted from a healthy, TRIM-enabled SSD is very often gone for everyone — not because tools are inadequate but because the data no longer exists.
The exceptions matter: TRIM does not pass through most USB enclosures, it is not used by some older file systems, and it cannot run at all if the drive has failed. That last point is the crux — failure freezes the flash in place, which is why a dead SSD is often a better prospect than a live one.
Many SSDs encrypt by default. Samsung’s portable T-series does, Windows may be using BitLocker over the top, and any drive with Class 0 or TCG Opal enabled is encrypted whether or not you set it up deliberately. If a password or key was set and is not available, the data cannot be decrypted — by us or by anyone — however healthy the NAND proves to be.
So the first thing worth establishing is whether encryption is in play, because it determines whether recovery is worth attempting at all. Check for a BitLocker recovery key in your Microsoft account before assuming anything.
SSD and NVMe recovery is from £300 +VAT after a free 48-hour diagnostic and a written quote, with most jobs no fix, no fee and a 50% deposit where controller-level work is required.
The diagnostic exists precisely to separate the two cases above. If your files were deleted from a working drive and TRIM has already run, we will say so and there will be nothing to pay — that is a more useful answer than an invoice for confirming it.
Usually, yes. Most serious SSD failures are the controller or its firmware rather than the flash, so the NAND still holds your data and the drive can be reached in vendor mode and imaged read-only. Failure actually preserves the data, because a dead drive cannot run TRIM.
Usually not, if the drive still works. TRIM tells the SSD to erase the blocks behind deleted files, and that happens within minutes and is physical. The exceptions are drives in USB enclosures where TRIM often doesn’t pass through, some older file systems, and drives that have failed.
Because TRIM cannot run on a drive that has stopped responding. Failure freezes the flash in whatever state it was in, whereas a healthy drive continues erasing deleted blocks in the background. It is counterintuitive but it is the single most important thing about SSD recovery.
It can end it entirely. Many SSDs encrypt by default, and BitLocker may be layered on top. Without the password or recovery key the data cannot be decrypted by anyone, regardless of the drive’s physical condition — so that is worth establishing before anything else.
From £300 plus VAT after a free 48-hour diagnostic and a written quote, with most jobs no fix, no fee. If the diagnostic shows TRIM already erased what you are looking for, we will tell you and there is nothing to pay.