SandForce controllers were popular roughly between 2009 and 2014. They stood out for their performance and advanced compression technologies, quickly gaining favor among manufacturers like OCZ, Corsair, Kingston, Intel, and others. SSDs with SandForce controllers offered users fast data processing. However, if the drive stopped functioning and the user had no data backups, it could lead to significant problems.
The challenges in recovering data from SSDs with SandForce controllers stem from the fact that these controllers store data with a high level of compression and utilize advanced hardware-level encryption. If the controller stops working, its unique algorithms can no longer be used to decode the stored data. Without these algorithms, it is often impossible to reconstruct meaningful output from the retrieved data. This reality makes data recovery from drives with these controllers exceptionally complex or entirely unfeasible.
An Example of Successful Data Recovery
This case involving an OCZ SSD was more of an exception than the rule. Although the situation seemed unsolvable, it was necessary to try all possible procedures and methods. A combination of multiple approaches ultimately led to success, and all data was recovered.
Device: OCZ Agility 3 SSD
Capacity: 60 GB
Issue: SSD controller failure
Solution: Combination of various SSD data recovery methods
Result: 100% data recovery success
Backup as Prevention
Today, SSDs are undoubtedly dominant as system drives in computers. They often contain critically important data, the loss of which can mean weeks of extra work or the loss of irreplaceable digital memories and key documents. Preventing data loss caused by drive failure is not particularly difficult. The market offers a wide range of external storage solutions and cloud services that enable easy and often automated backups.
Still, many users consider SSDs to be entirely reliable and robust devices that "cannot fail." However, the opposite is true. While SSDs can withstand minor shocks or vibrations, they can fail unexpectedly, for example, due to a controller failure or memory chip degradation.
If you have already encountered a problem with an SSD, HDD, NAS, mobile phone, or other data storage device and need to retrieve your data, do not hesitate to contact us. Consultation, diagnostics, and pickup are free of charge.