Why isn't firmware supported on some SSD's?
It’s a little complex but here is a summation. Many SSD manufacturers want to protect their firmware from being reverse engineered by other manufacturers (ie stolen). So, they have developed ways to prevent access to it. Unfortunately this is the very access that is needed for data recovery. Initially manufacturers were blocking access to firmware via ATA, but data recovery developers were able to get around this by accessing the firmware via other methods. However, when manufacturers found out that access had been gained, they again locked down the firmware by creating a digital signature. Without this digital signature access is again not possible.
Why does it take so long for firmware to become available?
There are many reasons for this. Hard drives for example are mechanically engineered and produced in cleanrooms so new models are not that common. Therefore, reverse engineering them may take a little time, but they will be supported on a regular basis. SSDs can be produced very easily using mass produced circuit boards and off the shelf chips. Firmware can also be purchased from chip manufacturers making the whole process easy and quick to do. However, most manufacturers change/adapt the firmware to make it their 'own'. So while the controller chip and firmware may common, developers have to reverse engineer each different 'variety' of firmware. This can take up to 6 months for one variation of firmware. As producing SSDs is relatively quick and easy, there are literally 100s of new SSD coming on the market each month.
Why are recovery rates so low with SSDs?
HDDs have a much higher recovery success rate that SSDs. Between 75-95% depending on the HDD model. However, as SSDs save data on NAND chips which are based on flash memory. Each NAND memory chip has millions of tiny cells which store data as positive and negative charges (1s and 0s at a very basic level). When a cell is charged it produces a 'flash' at a microscopic level which is how this type of memory gets its name. However the mere fact of charging the cell damages it. So each cell only has a certain amount of life. So from day one most SSD are dying. SSD manufacturers account for this by making the NAND chips much bigger than their actual size so data in failing cells can be moved. However there comes a point where the NAND chip is in such bad condition that if fails.
Conclusion:
Between locked down firmware, undeveloped new firmware, poorly designed firmware, degraded NAND chips and electrical failure, recovery rates on SSDs are as low as 30%. While we have developed techniques here to raise that recovery rate to about 50%, it still means that 50% of the SSDs we see are not recoverable.
Tim Homer - Desert Data Recovery
Founder Data Recovery Professionals
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