Overview of Flash Card Data Recovery Services
Memory Card Data Recovery Dundee! Memory cards come in many types, and we are able to recover data off the majority of these.
Various things can go wrong with your memory card. Perhaps you had some important photos stored on it, and they’ve apparently disappeared. Perhaps the card isn’t being recognised at all, or maybe it’s behaving unreliably or erratically.
If you’re not sure what’s wrong with your memory card, don’t worry- we can look at it and provide further advice. However, we recommend that you stop using it immediately and bring it to us as soon as possible.
Nowadays the most common by far are the SD card family (including MicroSD), but we are able to retrieve pictures and files from the majority of card formats.
Once we have recovered your data, we can return it to you in a number of formats, including on another memory card, or on a DVD.
Types of Memory Card Damage We Can Recover
Filesystem and File Corruption
This is by far the most common problem we encounter with memory cards. Strictly speaking, this isn’t usually a fault with the card itself. It’s normally caused when a device writes incorrect catalogue or file data to the card, or when either power is cut off or the card removed before the write was finished, resulting in that data getting messed up.
This can in turn lead to further problems, and more corruption. That’s why you should stop using the card as soon as you’re aware that there is a problem.
The good news is that Mobile Solutions experienced data recovery technician in Dundee can recover your data from corrupt flash cards like this, using a range of professional data recovery tools.
Physical Damage
Generally speaking, memory cards aren’t that easy to physically damage, but it does happen. We won’t list all the possibilities here, but we can say that even if the case or connectors or damaged, it’s still often possible to recover data so long as the internal memory chips themselves are intact.
Liquid Damage
If your flash card has become damp or soaked in water or another liquid, do not use it while it’s still wet. This may cause a short circuit and further damage, reducing the chance of data recovery. Remember that the card may still be damp inside the case even if it appears dry, and that residues left by some liquids may cause ongoing damage.
In short, if the contents of the card is important, stop using it immediately, and bring it to us as soon as possible.
Defects, Bad Blocks and Accumulated Failure
Modern SD cards have built-in controllers that are surprisingly clever at detecting and “swapping out” worn-out or bad blocks with good ones without the user even being aware of it.
Cheap, no-name and counterfeit cards often rely on this to get away with using poorer-quality memory (often with already-bad blocks, not always correctly masked out). These also generally use cheaper controllers with poorer error-correction. Although we recommend buying brand-name cards from a reputable retailer (like ourselves!) for this reason, even the best cards will wear out all their good blocks eventually.
Fortunately, it’s still frequently possible to recover much- if not the vast majority- of data on such faulty cards.
Electronic Damage
It’s possible for the electronics inside the card to become damaged. This is often caused by an incorrect power supply, or a fault in the device sending too much power to the card.
Fortunately, it’s often possible for the memory chips themselves to still be intact (and the data recoverable) even if other parts of the card are damaged.
As always, ask us for our advice, and we’ll let you know what the options are and let you decide for yourself whether it’s practical or cost-effective to recover the data.
You might be pleasantly surprised!
Supported Flash Memory Card Formats
We are able to recover data from almost any flash memory card format, including (but not restricted to):
- SD cards (Secure Digital) (including the newer SDHC and SDXC versions, plus MicroSD cards, including MicroSDHC and MicroSDXC)
- CompactFlash cards (CF)
- Plus less common or older formats such as Sony Memory Stick, etc.
Regardless of whether your card type’s listed above, there’s a good chance we can recover your data from it. Please contact our friendly staff to ask for further details. Memory Card Data Recovery Dundee!