Hi,

My phone suffered some water damage and now fails to turnon. I want to get the data off the internal memory.

So far I have concluded that the data is stored on a chip on the PCB which is a Samsung moviNAND chip, KLM8G4DEDD-A101. It is attached to the PCB via a 169 FBGA package.

The closest I could find to a datasheet is : http://www.docin.com/p-166979021.html

This chip appears to have a controller on board which I am hoping will make my life easier in that I wont have to deal with wear levelling since if I can interface with the controller it takes care of the wear levelling for me?

The controller is compliant with the JEDEC MMC 4.3 protocol standard, and looking at the pinouts on the bottom of the chip:



http://www.samsung.com/global/business/ ... iNAND.html

It shows a bunch of data lines (DAT0-7) , some voltage lines for the controller and the chip. (Vcc, Vccq ?)

I am wondering if I can connect the DAT0-3 lines, CLK, and CMD lines to a SD card reader which has similar pinouts (http://pinouts.ru/Memory/sdcard_pinout.shtml) and read the data off to a bin file which I can then use the usual tools on?

Anyone done anything similar?

Cheers

-Al

You will need NAND flash reader. SD card reader will not help you
Another problem is ECC correction. Flash controllers often use ECC correction if data in a page has reasonable amount of errors, so without applying ECC correction after you get the image - data will be damaged

It might be easier and cheaper to re-solder this chip on another same model phone

_________________
SAN, NAS, RAID, Server, and HDD Data Recovery.

Agree, but it won't be cheap - don't expect it to be done for 20$.
Reading/reprogram a blank chip require programmer and very expensive adapter.

So to clarify, 1) even though I will be communicating with the controller (not the nand directly) I will still be dealing with the device at a hardware level rather than a file system level?

And 2) Again, even though I am communicating with the controller, I still need a NAND reader/writer?

I assume by NAND reader you mean something like a http://www.up48.com/english/programmer/up2008.htm ?

Thanks

-AL

On the samsung page (http://www.samsung.com/global/business/ ... iNAND.html) it says the chip and controller has a embedded MMC interface (MMC4.3) - I thought this meant that the host can communicate with the MMC protocol, ie a SD/MMC card reader?



-Al

Did you ask how much does a test socket for that device cost ?
OR are you going to solder wires to the chip after removing it?

Lol- yeah, I have not been able to find a F169BGA adapter....it would have to be soldering, but as you can see only about 20 pins are in use.

-Al

In both case the cost of equipment would be amazingly high

I can tell you that professional test sockets cost a fortune , are diffcult to find (= add shipping costs and customs) , are very delicate and then you have to "interface" them with your programmer = have sometimes to build a board or design one to interface with your specific programmer. A PITA, sometimes for one use only (so it HAS to be paid !)

Soldering wires require , beside the wire that should be the latest problem, a microtip soldering iron, work under lens or microscope and a lot of skill.

I would better outsource

I've been studying eMMCs for some time, and it seems that the protocol is identical to that of standard MMC cards. Depending on the chip, you may or may not need a level shifter to interface with your MMC reader. Better contact the manufacturer for the datasheet, Toshiba was very helpful in my case. You also might need an extra supply voltage. Again, check the datasheet.
Good luck!

Datasheets are the LATEST problem and this is a memory chip that require a VERY EXPENSIVE (OK, it depends on what you call expensive, for average joe it's a fortune for me not) test socket or fixture PLUS an appropriate programmer if you don't want to tinker with the chip AND most probably make damage.
Unless you have a quick , cheap, safe and WORKING solution to connect wires to a 169 BGA micro package....

The best way is not to open a mini data recovery lab but getting a working phone of the same model and do the nana chip swaping (which required alot of skill to do so).

!!