Data Recovery Case File · Cameras, Drones & Cards · Interrupted, Not Shattered
A Card Has Nothing to Shake Loose, So the Damage Was to the Write
His enquiry describes an impact with an unusual cause and an ordinary consequence. A camera knocked down a flight of stairs "while saving data", after which the card is inaccessible in the camera and on a computer. For a spinning drive the fall would be the story; for a memory card there is nothing inside to be displaced, so what matters is that the fall interrupted a write in progress.
| Media | Camera memory card subjected to impact during an active write — NAND memory package behind a controller; not accessible in the originating camera or on a computer |
| Reported situation | Camera dropped down a flight of stairs while data was being written · card not accessible in the camera afterwards · card not accessible on a computer · photographic content required |
| Fault class | Write interrupted by power or connection disturbance during impact — translation layer left inconsistent; NAND memory package not mechanically susceptible |
| Equipment used | Impact assessed against solid-state construction with interrupted write identified as the mechanism · card examined at board level for seating and contact damage before any power · addressed through hardware with imposed timeouts rather than the host stack · memory read past the controller with translation layer reconstructed in software |
The decode: why the fall matters less than the moment it happened
Why an impact does little to a card directly: there are no moving parts. No platters to be struck, no heads to be driven into a surface, no bearings to be knocked out of alignment — a card is a NAND memory package and a controller on a small rigid assembly, and the components that make a spinning drive vulnerable to shock have no equivalent here.
What the impact can do instead: disturb the connection. A card can be jolted in its slot, or the camera's power interrupted momentarily, and either breaks the electrical continuity for long enough to matter.
Why that timing is decisive: the camera was writing. A card being written to is updating its translation layer, the map recording which physical NAND locations hold what, and an interruption partway leaves that describing an arrangement partly old and partly new.
Why an inconsistent map stops the card entirely: the controller reads it during start-up and cannot proceed past something that does not make sense. The device fails to present rather than presenting with one file missing, which is why nothing sees it.
Why that is a considerably better position than the equivalent on a spinning drive: nothing has been physically damaged. The NAND memory package holds everything written before the interruption, unaltered, and the fault is in the translation layer rather than in the storage.
What is likely to be affected: the photograph that was being written at the moment of impact. That one may be partial or absent, and everything before it was completed and verified — so the loss is generally a single frame.
Why the card being inaccessible in the camera as well is expected: the camera reads the same structures a computer does. One fault seen in two places, and it confirms the problem travels with the card.
What is nevertheless worth checking physically: whether the card was damaged in its slot. A card jolted while seated can have its contacts scored or its edge deformed, which is a separate and visible matter, established at board level before any chip-level work is considered.
What is done about the structures: the memory package is read chip-level past the controller, and the translation layer reconstructed from the data itself. That does not depend on the damaged map, because the reconstruction derives the layout rather than reading it.
What must not happen: no returning the card to the camera, and no accepting an offer to format or repair it. The device that was writing when this happened is the one most likely to propose preparing the card.
On the bench
The impact was assessed against solid-state construction with the interrupted write identified as the mechanism — a card comprising a NAND memory package and controller with no platters, heads or bearings, so shock has no mechanical target, while a jolt in the slot or a momentary power interruption breaks continuity during writing, leaving the translation layer recording content placement partly updated. A controller cannot proceed past an inconsistent map, so the device fails to present entirely. Memory was read past the controller.
The outcome
The impact assessed against solid-state construction, the card examined at board level before any power, and the memory read past the controller. Free assessment, one fixed written figure including VAT; on cards where content has been deleted or overwritten, the figure is payable upfront. The decode: the fall is not what did the damage. A NAND memory package has nothing inside to shake loose — what mattered is that it was being written to, and an interruption leaves the translation layer partly updated.
A card damaged by an impact during a save
Keep it out of the camera and refuse any offer to format or repair it — the device that was writing when this happened is the one most likely to propose preparing the card. Read the fall correctly, though: a memory card is a NAND package and a controller, with no platters, heads or bearings, so shock has nothing mechanical to act on. What matters is the timing. A jolt in the slot or a momentary power interruption during a write leaves the structures recording where content sits partly updated, and a controller can't proceed past a map that doesn't make sense. Usually only the frame being written is lost.
Keep it out of the camera — call Manchester Data Recovery on 0161 871 0788; impact assessed against solid-state construction, examined at board level before any power, memory read past the controller.
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Our case files are drawn from genuine enquiries received by our laboratory over the past ten years, anonymised to protect client confidentiality. Each one describes the diagnostic and recovery procedure our engineers apply to that fault, using the equipment listed.