USB Data recovery
Flash Drives & Memory Cards

London and Manchester, UK
0871 977 2525

Background: Solid state storage devices such as the memory cards used in cameras / PDAs / mobile phones, and devices such as USB flash drives (also known as Memory Sticks) offer an extremely easy and portable way of holding data and transferring it between devices.

Some advantages of these solid state or 'flash' devices are:

• superior portability
• lower power consumption
• no moving parts

Whilst disadvantages include:

• higher cost per Gb
• slower than conventional hard disks

Recovering data from flash drives, memory sticks and memory cards: In general, solid state storage devices such as memory cards or USB flash drives offer greater reliability than their conventional hard disk counterparts as they contain no moving parts. Faults are nearly always related to either an onboard component malfunction or poor assembly. Frequently in order to recover the data, it's necessary to fault find by tracing the electronic signals in the devices themselves and replacing / repairing the faulty component, or modifying boards / components to create a workaround on the device.

It's important to remember that if the data contained on the faulty device is of value, it is necessary to have it recovered by experienced technicians. Data on solid state devices can often be rendered unrecoverable due to incorrect recovery procedures not being noted.

Typical USB memory stick / card / pen drive failure & data loss symptoms:

• The device will no longer be recognised by the computer when inserted
• The device will be recognised but appear empty
• The device will be recognised incorrectly &/or show the wrong storage capacity