Intel X25-M G1 failed - any chance for data recovery?

[razel]

Just curious, are there any signs one should be aware of when it comes to SSD failure?

You could check the SMART values. Intel has values there for drive wear. I also believe Sandforce or Indilinx has that easy to use SSD health app. Forgot the exact name.

 

[StinkyPinky]

i don't see how your wife, an IT whose job involves data protection, could POSSIBLY hold you accountable for SSD hardware failure that occurred since you last touched the machine. It is physically impossible for you do to anything that would cause that other then disassembling the machine and physically handling the drive.

The last resort of applying the firmware update might solve your issue, or it might worsen it, but after you tried everything else you might as well do that too.

as always, keep backups.

You're clearly not married :biggrin:

Married women aren't usually rational. I still remember the time my son fell over and banged his head. He was about 30 feet away but I still got an earful for not saving him.

 

[MustangSVT]

> needless to say, as I was the last one to touch her machine before this she looks like she wants to kill me...

Does this mean you never set her up with a 1 TB external HD and backup software?

All drives fail eventually. If you plan for it, no $1,000+ data recovery service is needed.

I love people like you. :rolleyes;

For somereason, I've lost several hdds last year that way. It always comes down to "dealing with it" because recovery is too expensive.

But it wont hurt to find out what the cost is.

I feel your pain..

 

[Voo]

Controller problems are F'd.


It is so hard to recover SSD with failed controller, it is very expensive.

Ah the expert is here

Out of curiosity: Could you explain why replacing the controller is especially expensive? Haven't looked at the PCB in detail (should do one day with my intel.. uh but maybe after I've replaced it ), but can't you use a replacement controller? After all that works (worked, afaik it got harder with time) fine with HDDs?
Or is it the problem of getting a controller because obviously nobody sells them single and used SSDs are still pretty expensive?

 

[Russwinters]

With SSD, similar to HDD, the manufacturer may revise the code in the controller over the course of it's life. This can come in several forms, a firmware update, or in a hardware update/change.

So first you must make sure you have the exact same revision controller.


Next, you must actually get the controller off of the good drive, and on to the failed drive.

This is in no way, shape , or form easy.

http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/storage/Intel/34nmSSD/PerfPreview/oldPCB.jpg

The above image is a shot of the x-25m-g1 board uncovered.

The first thing you may notice is the black surrounding the controller, and memory chips.

This is epoxy and it is a pain to remove, but not impossible.


Next you will need to desolder the controller chip, this is not the hard part yet!

These are Ball grid array packaged SMD, so you have to heat from the top and the bottom to safely remove them.

Once you have it removed, you will need to solder it on to the failed board, this is the hard part: You need to get the ball packages for this chip, which you will have a hard time getting I imagine, or you will need to custom make your own ball packages.

You will need a infrared rework station to solder BGA chips, these are typically a few thousand for a decent one.