Typically, yes, but they will do so in ways that contradict what you have been told about hard disk failures. A solid state drive fails; warns of its failure; or simply doesn’t warn of its failure; is recovered; all as an individual process. The two main factors that determine whether you may recover the data from a failed SSD are: how the drive itself failed, and whether the files had been removed or erased prior to the drive failing.
Drive failed while files were intact → data usually exists beyond the point of physical drive failure; thus recoverable. Files were erased from the SSD while operational → the files were immediately and completely deleted via TRIM technology; and we’re being honest here, there’s nothing anyone can recover. Find out where you fall into this spectrum before investing money into anything.
The disappearing act: perfect yesterday and gone from the BIOS this morning; the controller chip or its power circuitry has died and taken the single element that knows where your files are located. Your files remain intact and unchanged on the flash memory behind the dead controller. The firmware crash: the drive comes up but is incorrect (either a corrupted drive name, 0GB, or some other manufacturer’s diagnostic label). In this case, the controller is operational but the software (firmware) running the controller is faulty. This is a problem with the drive and can be fixed using the correct repair kit. Read-only lockdown: the drive continues to read but will not allow any writes; due to excessive “flash wear” the controller has determined it needs to protect the remaining data on the drive by locking all writes. All data is readable, however it may only allow a single backup of all data, so make it now. The slow fade: you notice the drive begins to stutter, freeze, or you begin receiving errors on your files. The flash memory cells have become exhausted trying to perform error correction. As you see there is nothing on the above list about a failed mechanical hard drive making noise such as clicking and grinding. SSDs die in silence, and it is because of this that the health-check guide exists and why having regular backups is so important.
SSD recovery works because usually the failure and data are in different components. When the problem is firmware, a specialist tool will put the controller into maintenance mode to repair or rebuild your files’ translation tables that map those files on to the flash. If the controller itself is dead then things get more serious: read the NAND chips directly and reconstruct the drive’s internal scatter; wear levelling spreads every file across the chips in an interleave unique to each controller family, so chip-off work is half electronics and half code breaking. It takes time, it’s truly possible, and it’s the centre of our SSD & NVMe service and the SSD-not-detected lane. There are two honest caveats: hardware-encrypted drives and some self-encrypting drives make the route at the chip level complicated which is another reason we do diagnostics first, and none of this applies to deleted files from a healthy SSD, because TRIM wiped out blocks within seconds of deletion; for that purpose the plan was always cloud version history, backups, and the Recycle Bin.
Stop trying to revive it. Every so often, repeated power cycling will temporarily “wake” an idle crashed controller (for a couple of minutes) and every time it crashes it has a chance to mess with your translation tables even worse; if it wakes, make sure to back up your irreplaceable files immediately and consider this drive finished. Don’t update or reflash the firmware on a drive that contains your needed files; a firmware failure during the crisis could close doors that are currently open. Don’t reformat or reinitialise to get a drive showing again; the cost of getting the drive visible again is in the loss of data. Furthermore, don’t waste your time going through the scanner marathon: recovery software requires access to a drive from your computer’s perspective and that is exactly what a failed SSD doesn’t provide. Your most productive hour is the simplest: take down notes about the symptoms, place the drive in a safe area, then allow the no-charge 48-hour diagnostic test to inform you of which of the four modes you’re working with and how much money it will take to recover.
This occurs when the controller determines that the flash memory in the SSD is near end-of-life, and therefore locks all write operations to prevent any additional damage to the remaining usable space. This behaviour is designed into the product, not as a result of some type of hardware malfunction. Therefore, take advantage of the last opportunity provided by the controller and copy all data from the drive prior to removing it. Do not attempt to circumvent the controller’s locking mechanism using format tools or other similar means. In essence, the drive is telling you that it has only one more operation left in it, and that is to allow you to retrieve all of your data.
Sadly, yes, it’s the characteristic SSD failure. Hard drives generally fail mechanically and gradually, whereas SSDs typically fail electronically and all at once when the controller, or its firmware, fails. Health percentages are unable to indicate this type of failure as the component that has failed is the one that produces the health report. This is also the recoverable type of failure: the flash memory chips behind a failed controller will normally retain all data.
Yes, often, due to the nature of the work involved. A failed SSD may be repaired by fixing firmware issues, or by reading from the NAND memory chips and then using software to rebuild the controller’s scatter, both are highly technical endeavours. However, each project begins with the same process: free diagnostic, fixed written quote, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data, therefore there is no cost to find out.
All firmware repairs and chip-level reads are performed within the laboratory: receive a complimentary 48-hour diagnostic; a fixed written quote; and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data.