No clicking, no warning sound — one boot it works, the next boot the drive isn't detected. SSD recovery is harder than spinning-disk recovery, costs more, and depends on which part failed (controller, NAND cells, firmware, or encryption layer). Free diagnostic, fixed quote, no-data-no-fee.
Most "drive recovery" guides on the internet are written for spinning disks and don't apply to SSDs. Here's what actually changes when there's no platter — and why each change matters for your chances of getting your data back.
When you delete a file from an SSD, modern OSes send a TRIM command telling the drive's controller that those blocks are free. The controller then actually wipes those cells at the electrical level — usually within minutes. On an HDD, "deleted" files sit on the platter until they're overwritten. On an SSD, they're gone for real, fast. That's why deleted-file recovery on an SSD is often impossible if more than an hour has passed.
An HDD's "brain" is its PCB and we can swap it from a donor. An SSD's controller is a custom chip soldered to the PCB, tied to a flash translation layer (FTL) table that maps logical blocks to physical cells. If the controller dies, the FTL is gone — and without the FTL, the NAND cells are unreadable gibberish. We have to read the cells directly and rebuild the mapping in software. That's the bulk of the work and the bulk of the cost.
Most modern SSDs (Samsung 970+, Apple T2/M-series, BitLocker self-encrypting drives) encrypt every block at the hardware level, even when the user thinks they're not using encryption. The key lives in the controller. If the controller dies and we recover the raw NAND, the data is encrypted gibberish without the original key. With the key (BitLocker recovery key, FileVault password) we can decrypt during recovery — without it, often we can't.
We've seen waves of bricked drives from firmware bugs in specific Samsung 840 EVO, Crucial M4, and Intel 320 series. Drive looks dead; SMART reports zero sectors; BIOS doesn't see it. Often recoverable by re-flashing the controller via vendor- specific debug ports — but only if the controller chip itself is still alive. If a firmware bug burned out the controller's internal flash, you're back to the cell-level recovery path.
Diagnostic is always free. The price below depends on which part of your SSD failed — confirmed in writing before any work happens.
| Failure type | What it looks like | Price range | Turnaround | Success |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Logical / deletedMost common | Files deleted, partition formatted, OS won't boot but drive is detected. Usually a Windows update gone wrong or a panic-format. | $200–$400 | 3–5 days | 89% |
| Controller failureHardest | Drive not detected by BIOS or OS. SMART reports nothing. M.2 slot stays dark. Controller chip dead or its internal firmware corrupted. | $400–$700 | 5–10 days | 72% |
| Firmware corruption | Drive shows up as 0 GB, or as the wrong model. Won't accept reads. Often after a power-loss event or interrupted firmware update. | $400–$700 | 7–10 days | 78% |
| NAND cell wear | Drive becoming progressively read-only, slow writes, hangs. SMART shows high wear-level percent or reallocated sector count. | $300–$550 | 4–7 days | 84% |
| Physical damage | SSD bent, exposed to liquid, controller chip cracked, M.2 stick snapped. Multiple failure modes on the same board. | $500–$1000 | 2–3 weeks | 58% |
| Encrypted (with key) | BitLocker, FileVault, or vendor-encrypted. You have the password / recovery key. | +$150 surcharge | +1–2 days | Same as base |
| Encrypted (no key) | BitLocker / FileVault / Apple T2 — you don't have the password or recovery key. We can sometimes recover raw blocks but cannot decrypt without the key. | Free assessment first — we tell you upfront if it's possible. | ||
We'd rather tell you no upfront than charge you for a Hail Mary. These are the SSD scenarios where we'll diagnose for free and recommend you stop spending money on recovery.
The T2/M-series chip encrypts the SSD with a key that's tied to your Apple ID password and the chip itself. With the password, we can sometimes work with the recovered raw blocks. Without it, the cells are mathematically opaque — no recovery method works.
"Secure Erase" on an SED rotates the encryption key in the controller. The actual NAND cells still hold the old encrypted data, but with no way to derive the old key. This is by design — it's how SED-capable drives offer instant secure wipe.
Once TRIM has actually erased the cells (usually within minutes to hours after deletion), the data is electrically gone. Recovery software that "scans for deleted files" works on HDDs but doesn't apply here.
If the controller chip itself is physically destroyed (fire, severe surge, reverse polarity), the FTL table that maps logical blocks to physical cells is gone with it. We can read raw NAND, but reconstructing the FTL from scratch is currently beyond the state of the art for most consumer SSDs.
We power the SSD on a controlled bench rig (current-limited, with a known-good adapter). Read SMART data if accessible, identify whether the controller, firmware, or cells are the problem.
Fixed price in writing based on the failure mode. No work happens until you approve. No-data-no-fee even after you approve.
Logical cases: image the drive, run filesystem reconstruction. Controller failure: read NAND directly via debug ports, reconstruct FTL in software. Encrypted: integrate your key during reconstruction.
Files come back to you on an encrypted USB drive (yours to keep) or a drive you provide. Original SSD comes back too — even if it's no longer functional.
We've already selected SSD — choose the failure mode and we'll show your range before you share contact details.
Two reasons. First, the controller chip is custom and tightly coupled to the flash translation layer — there's no "donor PCB" trick that works for HDDs. Second, the work is chip-level: we sometimes have to read NAND cells directly through debug ports and reconstruct the address mapping in software. That's lab time, and lab time costs more than imaging a drive.
"Not detected" usually means controller failure or firmware corruption — both are recoverable in 70–80% of cases. The cells themselves are usually fine. Bring the drive in for a free diagnostic and we'll tell you in 30–90 minutes which it is and what recovery would cost.
On an HDD, yes. On an SSD, probably not. Modern operating systems send TRIM commands when you delete files, and most SSDs honor TRIM within minutes — meaning the cells are electrically erased. If you deleted files and immediately stopped using the drive (no boots, no other writes), there's a small chance some blocks are recoverable. But honestly: the longer it's been, the lower the chance.
Only if you have the Mac's password (or the iCloud account that owns it). The T2/M-series chips encrypt the SSD with a hardware key bound to your password. If you have the password and the drive itself is the failed component, we can sometimes recover. If the T2/M-series chip itself failed, the data is essentially unrecoverable — we'll tell you that during free diagnostic.
The diagnostic and recovery process is similar but the connectors and speeds differ. M.2 NVMe drives are PCIe and often have heavier controller chips with more sophisticated power management, which can fail in different ways than SATA SSDs. Either way, we work on both — bring it in.
Yes, if you have the encryption key. For BitLocker, that's the 48-character recovery key (saved to your Microsoft account or printed at setup). For FileVault, it's your Mac password. Bring the key with the drive — recovery price has a $150 surcharge for encrypted drives because we have to integrate the decryption step into the recovery pipeline.
"Not detected" doesn't mean dead. We diagnose every SSD type — SATA, M.2, NVMe, Apple, external — and tell you within 30–90 minutes what recovery actually involves and what it'll cost.