Advice for SSD, Probably Dead

[BLiNDBoi 930]

Alright, I don't normally make these type of threads and I already got a good idea that my parent's computer's SSD which had the operating system on it probably died.

 

 

In BIOS the SSD is not being detected, the drive itself looks like it is getting power as I can see a red light coming from the internal view on the back side of it. I have tried using the other SATA cables to plug into it in the hopes it might of been a bad cable, no luck. I have yet to pull this guy out of the case to read the part ID number but I know it has to be around 5 years old or so. I might do that later or when we get a new SDD/HDD to put a OS on.

 

Alright lets get to the point on hand, do you think there is any way to get information off of this drive? I did some research and it seems like it might be impossible because it isn't like a HDD naturally. My father said he did do a backup onto another drive that is maybe a month old. Which is questionable if installing Windows 7 and then using that backup will work or not, have no experience with it. So any advice or information regarding this will be helpful.

 

Just to be clear, it would be nice to get the some of the information back but most of it can be recovered by other means. I also want to mention that I upgraded the OS to Windows 10 literally a few weeks prior to this, doubtful this is a cause. According to my mother, she was using the computer than walked away for a while and it was dead when she returned. I don't know the extent of use my parents have done but I am aware of media-wear that SSDs have and I don't think it was too heavy. I have a few theories to why it died but nothing solid that is worth sharing.

 

So any advice would be very much appreciated.

[Swed 2651]

Uh, couple things could be wrong here:

1. Worst possible case: The drive is bricked completely, which would be a tad bit worse than corruption.

2. The SATA port on the motherboard is dead, try another port as well with different cables, might explain it not appearing when the computer POSTs

3. In terms of recovering it using another OS, I would talk to Driz about it. I know you can get around windows security using Linux, although I don't know if you can access Windows filesystems using it. I would talk to Driz about anything regarding that.

4. If the drive has bad sectors, then what you could do to make it fully usable again would be format it, but you run the risk of the drive corrupting again.

[HCMikey 248]

Yes, media wear is a thing for ssd's but we are talking about extremely heavy use.  Every where I've read, you basically need to be writing about 80+ gigs every single day for the next 8-9 years, and that's being conservative with the numbers.

 

For an SSD, I highly recommend you call the manufacturer and ask them what data recovery software they recommend or how to go about it. SSD's are completely different than standard mechanical hard drives when it comes to data recovery as you know. I could give you a boatload of data recovery software recommendations but I'm pretty sure you thought of that already and they are expensive as hell. 

 

How important is the data to you? You can always try drive savers (http://www.drivesaversdatarecovery.com/) if you got the money

[BLiNDBoi 930]

58 minutes ago, Swed said:

Uh, couple things could be wrong here:

1. Worst possible case: The drive is bricked completely, which would be a tad bit worse than corruption.

2. The SATA port on the motherboard is dead, try another port as well with different cables, might explain it not appearing when the computer POSTs

3. In terms of recovering it using another OS, I would talk to Driz about it. I know you can get around windows security using Linux, although I don't know if you can access Windows filesystems using it. I would talk to Driz about anything regarding that.

4. If the drive has bad sectors, then what you could do to make it fully usable again would be format it, but you run the risk of the drive corrupting again.

 I'll for sure try the other Sata connections and maybe try connecting it to my computer just to see if my OS can see it. It would be interesting if the motherboard or parts of it is going bad hah...

 

49 minutes ago, HornyCat said:

Yes, media wear is a thing for ssd's but we are talking about extremely heavy use.  Every where I've read, you basically need to be writing about 80+ gigs every single day for the next 8-9 years, and that's being conservative with the numbers.

 

For an SSD, I highly recommend you call the manufacturer and ask them what data recovery software they recommend or how to go about it. SSD's are completely different than standard mechanical hard drives when it comes to data recovery as you know. I could give you a boatload of data recovery software recommendations but I'm pretty sure you thought of that already and they are expensive as hell. 

 

How important is the data to you? You can always try drive savers (http://www.drivesaversdatarecovery.com/) if you got the money

Well, this is an older SSD and I know they keep making improvements so I don't know if it was a quality piece but I do agree with you. I do find it odd that it would just die without much warning, aka the SMART system SSDs have.

[driz 2626]

it's actually easier to recover data from nand (SSD) so you're in luck there.. i would get a bootable linux and try mounting the disk.. did anything change in the bios/uefi prior to this? update ahci/raid change?

 

i would check those first and see.. another option is to pop it in a usb adapter.. 

 

i'll say this, i'm still using my intel x25-m ssd that i purchased in december of 2008... so the likelihood that you exceeded the lifetime write seems slim to me

[BLiNDBoi 930]

13 minutes ago, driz said:

it's actually easier to recover data from nand (SSD) so you're in luck there.. i would get a bootable linux and try mounting the disk.. did anything change in the bios/uefi prior to this? update ahci/raid change?

 

i would check those first and see.. another option is to pop it in a usb adapter.. 

 

i'll say this, i'm still using my intel x25-m ssd that i purchased in december of 2008... so the likelihood that you exceeded the lifetime write seems slim to me

 

No nothing changed in the terms of BIOS, they don't really do anything to their computer that is related to BIOS.

[driz 2626]

any chance the manufacturer had one of those auto update things that could've updated the bios?

 

i would dig around in the bios/uefi and see if changing any settings makes the ssd visible (changing from raid to ahci or other items will not wipe data)

[BLiNDBoi 930]

17 hours ago, driz said:

any chance the manufacturer had one of those auto update things that could've updated the bios?

 

i would dig around in the bios/uefi and see if changing any settings makes the ssd visible (changing from raid to ahci or other items will not wipe data)

I  tried changing all the settings the BIOS allowed me to do. By default it is on IDE, I honestly don't know what is best but that is what it is now and I know it is functional.

 

I connected the drive into my computer, no luck either. One thing I have noticed is that when the device is connected it takes a long time to move past it and detect other devices connected to the MOBO. So it is like it is being detected but does not have the ability to be read for example. In any regard, I'm about to hit the door to go to the store with my father to buy a couple new drives, most likely a new SSD and another HDD for backups.

[driz 2626]

For the new drives set BIOS to achieve. While you're out pick up a sata to USB adapter and you might be able to recover your data that way

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Either way, you'll want to USB o use drive recovery software anyway

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[BLiNDBoi 930]

Just installed new SSD and soon another HDD which is 1TB that will likely be used as storage for backups. Speaking of backups, we are using a backup which was only 4 days old and thus I don't think much was lost if anything at all. Which as I am typing this, confirmed we are good to go nothing lost, will take my father sometime to organize files towards what to keep and what to reinstall.

 

On another note, Driz, I have yet to fully dick around with AHCI, can you explain it, I was lazy and left it on IDE configuration.

 

I now have a side project to see if I can salvage the older SSD. I will purchase a SATA to USB sometime in the future because the damn thing is a brick when it comes to BIOS. Lastly, thanks everyone for your input, it has given me plenty of ideas and things to do.

[Sean 3760]

AHCI is a more modern protocol and has way better performance. IDE is for more older connections and makes it possible for older drives to still be read in newer OSs

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[driz 2626]

http://www.diffen.com/difference/AHCI_vs_IDE