Hi OzBargain Community,
I have a physically damaged microSD card (snapped in half) and would like to recover the data from it.
Has anyone had experience with any data recovery businesses in Sydney?
Attached photos here - https://imgur.com/a/dmDQsnH
Thank you in advance.
Thanks mate. I’ve contacted a bunch of firms and awaiting replies. Fingers crossed!
i imagine the flash chip spans most of the sdcard. most likely snapped in half
You need to use google.
I am asking for recommendations from the OzBargain community!
Use google to search for companies that repair SD cards or can get data from damaged flash devices.
As no one on Oz bargain that I have seen has in the past given any info on surface mount repair companies. I know where I would go, but they do not repair equipment from the public and even then I would be laughed at and have to buy a few cases of beer and take them to the pub to get it done after hours and off the books assuming it could be done, which is 0.00000001% chance.
If it was a USB stick and the PCB was cracked then the change would be 99%, but if an IC is cracked then 0%.
You can pay big bucks and get it recovered if you look up companies that recover data from secure devices as they may have the right equipment, but again google is the way.
it's dead jim
It is Norwegian Blue Parrot dead…
I'm a doctor, not an electrical engineer.
Chips, unlike humans, have smoke inside not blood.
All the smoke got out of this one.
Its toast.
Not if you have the equipment to decap chips. Google "mame decap" and have a read.
The photos and the repair of the copper wires is what is needd and it does exist.
But if the chip is cracked then you have jack of getting if working.
Just lost an hour down the mame decap project rabbit hole
Was it good to lean what can be done at that level of how IC's work?
No recommendations, but if it is not urgent, I would consider looking overseas too.
The local costs last time I looked (admittedly years ago for a HDD) were extremely expensive.
Payam
I hope op doesn’t think this gonna be a $20 2 min job
Some redditors have advised approx $1-2k. Happy to spend the dough as the card holds sentimental value.
Ok for them to be scattered across various "dubious" internet sites ? or not that kind of "Sentimental" pictures ?
Thanks. Reached out to them earlier on
Some years back we got a quote to fix a WD 2.5inch portable that one day developed click issues . Quote came back at literally thousands, iirc at least over 5k, with no guarantee of saving the data
Not anywhere near qualified. It looks pretty complex. But i saw xray images of an micro-sd and damn i do not want to have to rebuild those solder tracks. I don't think its a question of "can you" but "how much money do you have".
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/X-ray-image-in-CSM-of-a-…
https://blog.adafruit.com/2019/11/18/128gb-micro-sd-x-ray/
The second one has a small IC based on the pads, but the first one is huge compared to what I would have expected.
and would like to recover the data from it.
I'll do it for $50, cash up front. Results not guaranteed though.
What equipment do you have?
I can get it done for $100K, so long as the IC is not cracked.
Hmmm $50 or $100k? Touch choice!
Dear community,
Herein lies a lesson on backups: Do them regularly. Do them often. Do them on multiple hard drives. Use (electrical) protection.
Don't be like the OP, staring down at his damaged hardware, thinking "I should have stuffed this into more compatible holes."
So the real question - who snapped it?
I figured it was one of those Magician "Saw in Half" acts that went wrong…
It looks like you don't unsolder - you "simply" sand and solder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjB6wliyE_Y.
The likelihood of recovery appears to be reasonable and commercial tools are available that can adapt to sanded cards for access.
For example https://rusolut.com/visual-nand-reconstructor/nand-adapters/ (see towards the bottom of the page)
Nonetheless, some reasonable tools are required and you have budgeted accordingly.
Good luck.
Interesting, didn't know you can access the ball grid array through the back of sd card.
Why did you break it in half in the first place?
It's possible to read data off the IC chip so long as it isn't damaged. They would have to de-solder the flash (emmc) memory chip from the board and then transplant it into a different board.
No clue as to what data recovery business has the knowledge to do that but you would need to ring up and ask them if they have the equipment to do that.