Dead nvme Intel 600p -> Data Recovery -> now part is missing

[P.F.]

Hello Forum,

I have a dead Intel 600P 512GB. It died suddenly, wasn't detected by the BIOS from one moment to the other.
Since it contains important data that wasn't backed up we've sent it first to OnTrack.
They asked for a lot of money just to look at it closer, we've declined, and gave our local pc guy a shot, who sends
this kind of work to a company in UK (Which he thinks, is doing a better job than Ontrack).
They returned it, saying they could do nothing.

But when I look at they SSD now, I see that someone, either Ontrack or the company in UK, removed some thing from the PCB.

Can someone tell me:

a) What the thing is?
b) Why would someone remove it?
c) Does this limit my chances of having the drive recovered?
d) If i was to put it back, where would I get the correct part from (other than a same model ssd)?

Thanks a very lot!!!
Pierre

Attachments

what is this?

without thing

with thing

[fzabkar]

Are you able to measure the voltages on each pad?

ICBW, but it might be a precision resistor.

[P.F.]

Against GND? Will do.

[P.F.]

Are you able to measure the voltages on each pad?

ICBW, but it might be a precision resistor.

Hi @fzabkar,

my measurements against GND gave:

• bottom pad ~3.0mV
• top pad 0.1mV

bottom pad ~3.0mV
top pad ~0.1mV

Does this tell anything? Still wondering why would someone take it off.
And shouldn't they at least have returned it along with the SSD?

Thanks for your help. Its very much appreciated!

[gold6565]

R = 770 Om

[P.F.]

R = 770 Om

Thank you!
Any Idea why any one would take this resistor off?
Is this SSD going to work without it?
I really do not understand, how a datarecovery service would let me end up this way.
Is this normal?

[P.F.]

Anybody,

please PM me with an offer, if you think you know this model well enough and think
you know a way to get the data off that ssd.

We are prepared to spend money, but Ontrack gave us the impression to just quickly collect money for telling us 'Nothing we can do'.
It seemed too easy enough earned money from some little unimportant stranger.

Thanks

[gold6565]

Take a high-quality photo of the part of the SSD where the technological sites are located

[P.F.]

Take a high-quality photo of the part of the SSD where the technological sites are located

I am lost here,

technological sites

What exactly do you mean by that?
I can't post highres images. 1024px max.
I will try to post links. Don't know if thats possible, though.

[gold6565]

This part

Attachments

[P.F.]

Is this good enough? It got a bit dark.

[gold6565]

Measure the resistance between the pads of the removed resistor.

[fzabkar]

... Ontrack gave us the impression to just quickly collect money for telling us 'Nothing we can do'.

AFAICT, Ace Lab's tools do not support your Silicon Motion controller (with Intel "enhancements") at the firmware level.

At the very least your SSD should have been returned to you in its original state.

If you can take voltage measurements when the drive is powered on, I could help you to confirm the onboard supply voltages. To this end I would need full images of each side of the PCB.

BTW, I have seen precision bias resistors in SSDs and flash drives. I believe they somehow set up the SATA/USB/PCIe data lines. ISTR that @jeremyb was able to recover a USB flash drive by modifying or removing this resistor.

[gold6565]

... Ontrack gave us the impression to just quickly collect money for telling us 'Nothing we can do'.

AFAICT, Ace Lab's tools do not support your Silicon Motion controller (with Intel "enhancements") at the firmware level.

At the very least your SSD should have been returned to you in its original state.

If you can take voltage measurements when the drive is powered on, I could help you to confirm the onboard supply voltages. To this end I would need full images of each side of the PCB.

BTW, I have seen precision bias resistors in SSDs and flash drives. I believe they somehow set up the SATA/USB/PCIe data lines. ISTR that @jeremyb was able to recover a USB flash drive by modifying or removing this resistor.

You are right, they changed the processor mode, but it turned out to be damaged

[fzabkar]

R = 770 Om

I really do not understand, how a datarecovery service would let me end up this way.
Is this normal?

I would hope not, but I've seen this happen many times in the storage forums. In fact I've seen several cases which point to outright sabotage.

I don't know what to make of this:
https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/professional-data-recovery.3560676/

[P.F.]

Measure the resistance between the pads of the removed resistor.

@gold6565
Resistance from top(+) -> bottom(-): 3.99 kOhm
Resistance from bottom(+) -> top(-): 11.46 kOhm
I appreciate your help. tx

[P.F.]

If you can take voltage measurements when the drive is powered on, I could help you to confirm the onboard supply voltages. To this end I would need full images of each side of the PCB.

@fzabkar Thanks for taking the time, measuring the voltages will tell us if the power supply is working how it should, am I correct?
Assuming physically everything is still ok, the real problem with the drive is, that nobody has the specific Intel-Knowledge to access the drive via its debugging or maintenance interfaces and correct corrupted data structures to get the controller booting?
If that's so, then Intel would be the only one able to recover data, but they don't even provide any such service and just point to Ontrack and others.

[lcoughey]

The odds are, the SSD went into panic mode due to damaged firmware. Unfortunately, there is pretty much nothing that can be done to recover the data, thanks to Intel's firmware customizations with digital signatures and encryption.

The lab probably removed the one chip, thinking that it might help resolve what looks to be a short, but rarely ever helps. I can't say why they didn't put the chip back on. It is unlikely to make a difference in the final outcome of this case, just the same.

[fzabkar]

I can't see the markings on the ICs, but measure the voltages between ground and the junction of each inductor and its associated capacitors.

Attachments

reg3.jpg (46.27 KiB) Viewed 26758 times

reg2.jpg (49.37 KiB) Viewed 26758 times

reg1.jpg (39.69 KiB) Viewed 26758 times

[fzabkar]

BTW, I have seen precision bias resistors in SSDs and flash drives. I believe they somehow set up the SATA/USB/PCIe data lines. ISTR that @jeremyb was able to recover a USB flash drive by modifying or removing this resistor.

You are right, they changed the processor mode, but it turned out to be damaged

I don't see why you would need a 1% resistor for this. Usually such configuration resistors select either a logic low or logic high input. Bias resistors, OTOH, would have an analogue function. For example, some Microchip USB ICs use a 1% bias resistor to set the "HS transmit current level and on-chip termination impedance".

FWIW, here are two examples:

http://ww1.microchip.com/downloads/en/DeviceDoc/00001898A.pdf
https://www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/256/MAX14500-MAX14503-100918.pdf

Unfortunately I don't have any datasheets for flash controllers, at least none that explain this biasing function. I have noticed them in some reference circuits, though.

The OP's measurements would suggest that this resistor does not select a logic level. If it did, then the O/C voltage on the lower pad would be a logic high. When the resistor is installed, the logic level would be pulled to ground.