Solid state drives (SSDs) are increasingly becoming the go-to storage medium for computers, laptops, mobile phones and tablets. They’re small, lightweight and the cost per GB is decreasing every year. But SSDs do pose problems in terms of data recovery.
As manufacturers develop SSD technology, the proprietary design and architecture evolves. There is increasing pressure to reduce the cost while at the same time increasing the capacity, which has a big impact on data recovery. For each new design of SSD, the data layout needs to be mapped; making data recovery on newer SSDs incredibly difficult. Since SSD manufacturers are understandably very reluctant to release information about their latest innovations, we have to map the layout of each new design architecture before we can attempt data recovery. Poor SSD design can lead to data corruption, making data recovery very tricky. When power is removed from an SSD, the drive has milliseconds to save the current data to the correct location. Poor design and failure to accommodate this can lead to data not being saved to the correct place. In extreme cases, data recovery will be impossible.
Encryption, whether it’s hardware or software-based, hugely reduces the chance of a successful data recovery in most instances of failure. When an SSD is encrypted, the raw data can’t be reconstructed into the correct layout, because it can’t be read. You need to weigh up what is more important to you – security or ease of data recovery. If the data isn’t particularly sensitive, you don’t really need to encrypt your SSD. The location and fitting of SSDS can also pose problems for data recovery technicians. For example, mobile phones and tablets often contain a single circuit board with all electronic components mounted onto it, including the memory and controller.
When SSD technology development reaches a plateau, which won’t be anytime soon, then these flaws will be less of an issue when it comes to ease of data recovery. At Data Recovery Specialists, we are constantly developing our SSD data recovery capabilities, and can recover data from devices like mobile phones, tablets and USB flash drives.
