All memory cards, USB drives and portable SSD devices carry the same badge but each of these may suffer from unique failure mechanisms, and one specific type of portable storage device has been documented to have reliability issues that you need to know about.
A card is monolithic (one piece) and you’re reading through test points; a stick can be discrete or monolithic. A portable SSD is a controller problem and on some models there are at least several cases which have been documented as such.
All SanDisk SD and microSD cards are monolithic. This means that both the logic circuitry (controller) to manage access to the storage medium (flash), and the actual non-volatile memory (storage) are part of a single enclosed unit. There is nothing to remove or replace once the controller has failed. Thus, recovery is limited to finding the internal test points on the package housing all of these components and accessing your data through those. To access data via those test points we need to have the correct pin-out for that particular solid-state monolith.
If your card continues to read, but your file system is corrupted (and this is much more likely than having a card that will not read at all), then we simply rebuild the index, or carve by signature to recover your images and/or files. Rebuilding an index and carving by signature are standard procedures, and generally lead to successful outcomes.
A lot of people reported that their SanDisk Extreme & Extreme Pro portable SSDs just failed to function without warning, became unrecognisable by their computer or laptop, and ultimately, SanDisk released a firmware update (or fix) in response to the problem with the affected units. So if you have purchased one of these products and now they no longer work, then this history is part of why things are as they are today.
In practice this is no different than a normal controller failure. The drive will be reached at the controller level if possible and then read from as an image in read-only mode. If you have a functioning Extreme drive please back up your data and look into applying the latest firmware update, but do so with a good drive (one that behaves) not a bad drive; firmware updates are written to drives that function properly and updating a failing drive may well complete its demise by writing to an unstable device.
SanDisk is one of the most heavily counterfeit-branded storage brands. In fact, when using a false card to store data, the false card will report a very high storage capacity (i.e. much larger than actual), but this false card actually has only a portion of the actual storage capacity. On top of this, the firmware of the false card has been changed so that it will accept write requests beyond what exists, and either silently discard or wrap them. Therefore, there are no error messages when writing to the false card. However, once the amount of data stored exceeds the capacity of the actual flash storage device contained within the false card, the false card will fail totally.
There are several warning signs of counterfeit SD cards. These include: you have purchased a card at a suspiciously low cost; you have purchased a card that has a very large reported capacity compared to its purchase price; you start using the card as intended and then suddenly all data disappears from the card once it holds a lot. Recovery is limited to what was actually written to the real flash, often only a fraction of what the card claimed to hold, and no technique can change that.
The costs for SanDisk memory cards and USB drives start from £250 +VAT, while portable SSDs and desktop / laptop SSDs start from £300 +VAT. We also provide a complimentary 48-hour diagnostic analysis prior to providing a written quote to undertake the recovery of your lost data. As well as the complimentary analysis, in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. Please send the cards separately in their own rigid case rather than sending them attached to cameras etc.
Yes, usually. When the card will read but the filesystem is corrupted, we recover files by either rebuilding the index or carving by signature. If the controller fails, since all SanDisk cards are monolithic in design, that requires accessing the test points on the sealed package itself to attempt to recover any remaining data.
There is documented evidence of this being a problem with SanDisk’s Extreme and Extreme Pro portable SSD lines. A number of users reported that their drives would fail catastrophically while in use and then become completely non-functional. A firmware update was issued to address the issue. Since this is a controller level failure, recovery is done at controller level; if you have a working drive, be sure to back up your data as long as it continues to function.
No. Firmware should always be applied to functioning devices and never to those which are experiencing some kind of failure. Writing firmware to a device that is not stable may result in overwriting the service area of the device and subsequently render it forever unreadable.
Extremely inexpensive compared to other similar products. Larger than expected storage space for its cost. Catastrophic failures occur after large amounts of data are stored on the product. Counterfeit versions report larger capacities than exist and simply ignore writes beyond the actual limit of available memory. Recovery options are only applicable to data actually written to the existing flash storage.
The cost for memory cards and USB drives will begin at £250 + VAT, while portable and internal SSDs will begin at £300 +VAT. All costs will be included within a fixed price written quotation once we have completed our free 48-hour diagnostic, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data.