HDD GURU FORUMS
http://forum.hddguru.com/

Sandforce SF-2281 Data Recovery
http://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=37322		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  samconrad [ August 30th, 2018, 23:10 ]
Post subject:  Sandforce SF-2281 Data Recovery
Hello everyone,

Does anyone know of an option for Sandforce Data Recovery within North America other than Ace Data Recovery? I have an SF-2281 drive that is not recognized at POST. The drive gets warm when connected to power. No amount of power cycling including extended periods of power-only were able to get it to show up again. This is a Mushkin Chronos MKNSSDCR480GB-7-A. There are two pads on the PCB labeled "J3" and "J4" that appear to be for diagnostic purposes and two diagnostic LEDs, but I'm afraid to try anything on my own to get the drive into a working state. One internal diagnostic LED appears to flash immediately as power is applied and then nothing else happens.

This drive had very little in the way of writes vs. a normal lifespan and was in cold storage for a month before I plugged it in to back up the contents to a new hard drive (how ironic) in the last few days, so I feel confident that the NAND contents are fine. It's supposedly been dead since I removed it from the PC it was in. I really only needed to get a couple hundred megabytes of files from it.

I only have <$900 USD to put into a recovery effort at this time, so I'm exploring my options. I'm guessing that if I sent the drive to Ace Data Recovery, cost would be in the thousands. I believe the drive may just be stuck in a BSY state, the firmware had unfortunately not been updated after purchase. I'm a bit upset with myself for not knowing about the widespread issues regarding SandForce drives, because this drive sat unused for almost 3 years after the initial purchase.

Thank you all for any assistance! :oops:
Author:  fzabkar [ August 31st, 2018, 1:56 ]
Post subject:  Re: Sandforce SF-2281 Data Recovery
If you upload detailed photos of both sides of the PCB, I could help you measure the voltage test points.
Author:  lcoughey [ August 31st, 2018, 7:24 ]
Post subject:  Re: Sandforce SF-2281 Data Recovery
I've had mixed results with the 2281 controller stuck in a BSY state. For those we can recover, we charge $900 CAD.

As for ACE, they are the only lab in North America that I know can recover Sandforce we can't. I've sent them cases deemed unrecoverable by DriveSavers, Seagate and Ontrack who all claim to be able to recover from bricked Sandforce SSDs. You are correct, ACE are expensive where you can expect to be paying more than $3000 USD.
Author:  samconrad [ August 31st, 2018, 11:04 ]
Post subject:  Re: Sandforce SF-2281 Data Recovery
fzabkar wrote:
If you upload detailed photos of both sides of the PCB, I could help you measure the voltage test points.

Done:
Back:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kSMDYo ... sp=sharing

Front:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N_OqqP ... sp=sharing


lcoughey wrote:
I've had mixed results with the 2281 controller stuck in a BSY state. For those we can recover, we charge $900 CAD.

As for ACE, they are the only lab in North America that I know can recover Sandforce we can't. I've sent them cases deemed unrecoverable by DriveSavers, Seagate and Ontrack who all claim to be able to recover from bricked Sandforce SSDs. You are correct, ACE are expensive where you can expect to be paying more than $3000 USD.

You guys seem to be within my price range. Mixed results are better than no results!

To clarify, the controller is a SF-2281VB4-SPC. If you have the time or desire, feel free to take a look at the images shared above. Maybe you have come across drives with a clone of this PCB already. I'll probably get in touch with your team soon if I don't get extremely lucky over the weekend.
Author:  HaQue [ August 31st, 2018, 21:00 ]
Post subject:  Re: Sandforce SF-2281 Data Recovery
Northwind in Greece also have made great strides with SandForce. I wouldn't rule out sending if it means getting the data recovered.
Author:  pcimage [ September 1st, 2018, 5:05 ]
Post subject:  Re: Sandforce SF-2281 Data Recovery
HaQue wrote:
Northwind in Greece also have made great strides with SandForce. I wouldn't rule out sending if it means getting the data recovered.


This is true, Northwind have got an excellent track record for recovering these. But it would cost an awful lot more than $900, it’s a LOT of work. :-(
Author:  HaQue [ September 1st, 2018, 5:09 ]
Post subject:  Re: Sandforce SF-2281 Data Recovery
you mean "wouldn't it" I think :-)
Author:  pcimage [ September 1st, 2018, 5:12 ]
Post subject:  Re: Sandforce SF-2281 Data Recovery
HaQue wrote:
you mean "wouldn't it" I think :-)


Thanks, edited! :-)
Author:  samconrad [ September 4th, 2018, 2:39 ]
Post subject:  Re: Sandforce SF-2281 Data Recovery
fzabkar, have you had a chance to look at the images? Thank you for the assistance.

I will likely start a case with Luke / Recovery Force later this week.
Author:  fzabkar [ September 4th, 2018, 3:04 ]
Post subject:  Re: Sandforce SF-2281 Data Recovery
Oops, I forgot about your thread. Sorry.

Can you measure the voltages at each of the capacitors (Cxxx) in the vicinity of U606, U607, U500 (EN5322) and U502 (EN6337)?
Author:  fzabkar [ September 4th, 2018, 18:08 ]
Post subject:  Re: Sandforce SF-2281 Data Recovery
https://forum.acelaboratory.com/viewtopic.php?f=189&p=35356#p35356

Roman_TS wrote:

I recommend you to do two things:

1. Put your SSD in hermetic plastic case and put it in freezer. Wait for 2-3 hours untill drive will not be cold down to -15..-25C, and try to plug. Sometimes freezing might help to read data from wear NAND chips and drive will pass initialization. Better to leave drive freezed!

2. If it will not help, try to drop some flux between chips and PCB, and then - warm with hot air gun. Maybe it's a problem with some BGA contacts on your SSD PCB.
Author:  northwind [ September 5th, 2018, 1:34 ]
Post subject:  Re: Sandforce SF-2281 Data Recovery
fzabkar wrote:
https://forum.acelaboratory.com/viewtopic.php?f=189&p=35356#p35356

Roman_TS wrote:

I recommend you to do two things:

1. Put your SSD in hermetic plastic case and put it in freezer. Wait for 2-3 hours untill drive will not be cold down to -15..-25C, and try to plug. Sometimes freezing might help to read data from wear NAND chips and drive will pass initialization. Better to leave drive freezed!

2. If it will not help, try to drop some flux between chips and PCB, and then - warm with hot air gun. Maybe it's a problem with some BGA contacts on your SSD PCB.

Success % for this, <1‰ IMHO. Still worth a shot though.

We can recover this drive, but it's going to cost more than OP's budget. Better try with Luke first.
Good luck!
Author:  agent008 [ December 23rd, 2018, 13:28 ]
Post subject:  Re: Sandforce SF-2281 Data Recovery
Hello everyone.
I have registered due to interest in this topic - SF2281.
I have a Kingston HyperX 480GB drive which has been used as my main HDD (in a laptop) for about 5 years.
Last month I bought a new laptop and thought it to be a good idea to not pay a premium for the SSD version - I would just swap my SSD into the new computer.
I did not realise new, thinner laptops are using 7mm drives, not 9.5mm ones.
So, I swapped the drives and when I found out it would not fit, I had the brilliant (?) idea of using the laptop with my 9.5mm drive hooked up, cover off, until a new SSD I ordered online would arrive. So I screwed the new laptop's metal drive holder on, and at that I might have overtightened the screws thus warping the drive slightly, or warping the laptop's caddy/metal plate somehow and upon poweron the drive went bust. Not detected under any circumstances whatsoever. Tried installing it into a PC, also the method of leaving it powered on without the sata cable for some minutes. No luck.
I think I either made the new laptop's HDD metal plate short some of the drive's extra 4 pins that sit aside the SATA connection (please refer to photos), or I warped the SSD's board and a solder point somewhere subsided.
Anyhow, I sent the drive to a recovery company here in Brazil and they returned it to me as unrecoverable due to being a SandForce drive.
Data on the drive is very important, backup was too old (yes I've been THAT stupid) so before I go on sending the drive to Canada (as suggested by the local guys at a VERY expensive rate) or Greece, maybe someone can shed a light on this. I have basic electronics understanding so can use a multimeter to take measurements etc. Also maybe these 4 pins are serial or JTAG? If anyone knows how to help me find out what these pins are, I have a TTL-level Nokia usb adapter which I used to recover a router a couple years ago and maybe could be useful in bringing this SSD back to life...

Thanks for now, photos following soon.
Author:  agent008 [ December 23rd, 2018, 19:12 ]
Post subject:  Re: Sandforce SF-2281 Data Recovery
Here are the photos:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/recQkBtcV9Xpurcr6


https://photos.app.goo.gl/PZGbJgEMo7cADrnY9
Author:  agent008 [ January 12th, 2019, 9:29 ]
Post subject:  Re: Sandforce SF-2281 Data Recovery
Hello everyone.

I am not a fan of post bumping, but am really needing some help here.

It seems wise that I would check resistors/capacitors and other PCB checks, or even JTAG/serial connectivity if available on this drive, before I sent the drive for a lengthy (freight + recovery) and expensive process.
I don't know exactly which components to check or how to test if the available pins are JTAG or not, but have seen somewhere on this forum that another member with a SandForce-driven SSD got some suggestions of which components on the PCB to test, using a multimeter etc. If someone at all can give any clues, I would be glad to post the results, which is not only helpful for me but might help someone else with the same issue...

Thanks
Page 1 of 1 All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
http://www.phpbb.com/