Discrete — separate chips
Controller and NAND as separate packages. If the controller fails the flash can be desoldered and read directly, then reassembled in software. More common on older and larger sticks.
Chip-off possible
A memory card, a monolithic USB stick and a portable SSD share a brand and almost nothing else. Which you have determines the route, the price and the realistic prospects — so it is worth separating them properly.
A card is a monolith read through test points. A stick might be either monolithic or discrete. A portable SSD is a controller problem, and on certain models a well-documented one.
And the most common thing we see from this brand.
Cards rarely implement TRIM, which is the single most useful fact about them. Deleted and formatted images stay physically present until something is written over them — so taking the card out of the camera genuinely stops the clock, and an accidental format is usually very recoverable.
Cards are monolithic: controller and flash fused into one sealed package with nothing separable inside. Where the controller still responds, recovery is a software job against a readable device. Where it does not, access is through internal test points, which requires the correct pinout for that exact part — slower and more specialised, and still frequently successful.
The one unrecoverable case is a counterfeit. At high capacities, a card reporting far more than it holds accepts writes into nothing, and no technique retrieves data that was never stored.
Two builds that look identical from outside.
Controller and NAND as separate packages. If the controller fails the flash can be desoldered and read directly, then reassembled in software. More common on older and larger sticks.
Everything fused together, standard on most modern sticks. Access through internal test points using the pinout for that specific part.
Independent of both and the best case there is. The break is at the solder joint and the memory beyond it is almost always untouched.
The controller hitting flash it cannot read, hanging, and being reset by its own watchdog. Stop reinserting — each cycle runs the same loop.
Worth addressing directly, because a good many of these are still in circulation.
In 2023 there were widespread reports of SanDisk Extreme and Extreme Pro portable SSDs failing abruptly and losing data, affecting drives across capacities. Western Digital, which owns SanDisk, acknowledged the problem and issued a firmware update, and the matter attracted litigation in the United States.
The practical position for owners is straightforward. If you have one of these and it is working, apply the current firmware and make sure a second copy of anything important exists elsewhere — the failures were reported as sudden rather than gradual, so there is no deterioration phase to catch.
If one has already failed, do not apply a firmware update to try to revive it. On a drive already unable to load its firmware, the update rewrites the exact region a recovery needs to read. These are recovered like any other controller fault — through the manufacturer’s diagnostic mode where the controller can be revived, with encryption established first, since portable models encrypt by default.
The images are there until something is written over them. Decline every camera prompt to repair or format.
If it ejects itself, the controller is crash-looping. Repetition achieves nothing and risks a write. Send it as it is, including any broken-off piece.
These encrypt by default. Without the password or key, healthy flash yields nothing readable, so establish that before anything else.
Manufacturer tools offering to format, repair or restore are writing to the device. Cards and USB media from £250 +VAT, portable SSDs from £300 +VAT, after a free 48-hour diagnostic.
Usually, and often completely. Cards rarely implement TRIM, so deleted and formatted images remain physically present until something is written over them. Take the card out and stop shooting — that is often the whole intervention.
It depends on construction. Where the controller and flash are separate chips, the flash can be read directly if the controller fails. On monolithic sticks, access is through internal test points using the pinout for that exact part — slower but frequently successful.
In 2023 there were widespread reports of abrupt failures and data loss across capacities. Western Digital acknowledged the issue and issued a firmware update, and it attracted litigation in the US. If yours works, update it and keep a second copy elsewhere.
No. On a drive already unable to load its firmware, an update rewrites the exact region a recovery needs to read and can make the condition permanent. Update healthy drives as maintenance, not failed ones as a fix.
Yes, which makes the password or recovery key the first question. Without it, perfectly healthy flash yields nothing readable — so establish whether you have it before considering anything technical.
From £250 plus VAT for cards and USB sticks, and from £300 plus VAT for portable SSDs, fixed in writing after a free 48-hour diagnostic.