Hey guys,

Joined up just to ask this question, so any help and assistance is greatly appreciated!

My dog got a hold of my Sandisk 64gg SDHC card today, chewed it up a little bit. I attempted to place it in my Mac, no luck. Into my Canon Rebel, no luck. Into other devices, and nothing would recognize that it was even there. I'm trying to figure out if I CAN get the photos off of it. The lower portion of the SD card seems to look ok, so I assume the chip was not harmed (although I could be wrong).

Here are some photos:


Back:


Thanks for ANY help!

You mean repairable by you for free with stuff you have at home ? Then NO.

Can you open the card and show us PCB and memory module? Be carefully.

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Flash Killer - everyday new resources (pinout, XOR, ECC,config) for flash devices

Not sure if it is good idea for you to open card as you may accidentally cause more damage. But if you choose to, be sure not to touch anything inside.

I am almost 99% positive it is a monolith chip inside. If the chip inside is damaged, then it is pretty much game over for you. If only the plastic casing is the only damaged part then it may be possible to get the data. But with monolith chips be expected to spend a lot of money (Over a $1000) to get the data if it is possible.

If it is not a monolith chip then the price may be more reasonable for you. But no way of knowing until the plastic casing is taken off. But i would not recommend it just in case you further damage the chip inside trying to get it out.

Yes, I suppose it is monolith too. In this case recovery is possible, it is not chip case but not expensive as Cleanroom write.

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Flash Killer - everyday new resources (pinout, XOR, ECC,config) for flash devices

Thanks to all who have replied. To answer some of the questions...

I do understand I am personally not able to recover any data off this drive, it's way above my head. I've done typical HD's, but not ever a physically damage SD card.

The pictures on this card is almost a year's worth of photos since day 1 of my daughter being born, so these are quite valuable in my opinion. Yes, I know, I should have backed up... foolish mistake on my part. Not a second has went by that I blame myself for this, oh well, live and learn. Just wish it wasn't this...

Is there a way to tell if it's a monolith from the card itself? Without opening it up, that is. Maybe contact Sandisk and ask?

Is there any recommended companies I could contact to discuss this with? Private messaging would be fine, as I know forum rules and such might prohibit that.

Although I currently don't have a "spare" $1,000, I do believe if that's what it comes down to... I'm willing to spend it.

Sandisk most likely will not know if it is a monolith or not. Seeing you are in Houston, I know for a fact that there are only a handful of places in the US that will attempt Monolith recoveries and the 1000 price tag was being generous. Some of the places in the US charge close to 5000k. some are half that. It is because of the labor involved in getting the chip wired up correctly and read in. Then the data needs to be rebuilt.

The only way to know is to open the plastic enclosure.

I am in Austin, but if you want to find a local professional data recovery firm you can drive over to them and see if they can open it up for you to see what is inside. We do monolith recoveries, but they are not cheap.

They may also tell you the chip is cracked or damaged. Then you are pretty much out of luck then

On the consumer front I've always found it rather dis-heartening that storage device mfgs. never really advertise data backup as a reason to purchase a 2nd hard drive.

Informing a customer that they should be backing up their information tends to create an aura of unreliability. And that their shiny new HDD or SDcard is failure prone. Thus not a good choice for purchase.

WesternDigital now advertises "backup operations" as being like a jet airplane with 2 engines. If one engine fails, the other one keeps you going safely. They get the point across in several ways. Travel by jet is synonymous with safety and they associate their product with that. They imply getting that level of safety 2 purchases are required. 2 disks, 2 engines. Each doing the same work - pushing the airplane forwards - storing your personal information.

When the engineers design the aeroplane they ask what happens if the motor fails..? Then they budget for 2 motors in the bill of materials. You do the same.

WD is asking you to do what an aircraft mfg. would do. And build your aircraft and your data storage "infrastructure" with safety and reliability. This means 2 engines and 2 copies of all your data.

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On a clear disk you can seek forever.

I generally refrain from talking about a 3rd copy directly because it is overwhelming to the newbie. It's bad enough convincing them to get extra media to even do one backup, let alone three copies. Remember this has to work for the average home user. Not us techies.

Instead I present it this way in my lectures:
You have your working data that you play with all the time. This is copy #1.
You have a backup of that sitting nearby. This is copy #2.
You have an offsite copy that you update less frequently - due to convenience. This is copy #3.

I can assure you that most people aren't going to make weekly trips cross town to update a tertiary copy. But they might do it every 6 months or when visiting on holidays. Here's where I talk about cloud backups as interim solutions. As much as I hate cloud services as repositories for backups and personal data I find that people are less opposed to that idea than they are to laying out $800 or more for a backup HDD. Yep, $800. And that's frakking cheap! Consider:

1- The largest capacity HDD (or two, having less areal density and more in-the-field history).
2- Notepad and pen for logging backup completion dates.
3- Extra power adapter and/or USB cable.
4- Case and plastic baggie to help protect against the elements.
5- Tax and/or shipping? It's all part of the cost
6- Let's one up it and get a fireproof safe or Pelican case.
7- Consider putting the Pelican case in the safe. Now you buy both.
8- Tack on another $10.00 for a pack of CD's, as everybody inevitably finds a few favorites (in the process of making the initial backup and sorting process) that they want to give to family and friends.
9- What about commercial quality imaging software?
10- Don't forget filesync software either.

What about me? What do I do?

1- I just stuff old re-purposed bare drives into a Kleenex box under the bed.
2- FreeFileSync and Macrium Reflect(free edition) and Windows Explorer pick up the software end.
3- It works! Everything is free.

Corporations and business owners? They're big boys and can outsource someone to manage the details and conduct backup operations.

All that aside. A growing problem is that too many people are relying on portable devices to hold their only copy. Whether it be a spiffy DSLR or a toy smartphone/tablet. I see too many people just go buy new media when device fills up. Or new device altogether. Some dump it to the cloud somehow. Then they end up with their photo collection spread over multiple "free trial" accounts. Of which any can expire or go belly-up at any time.

Nowhere is there a centralized spot they keep their stuff in. Sometimes they end up with drawer full of unlabeled memory cards. Once in a while they go on a "cleaning frenzy" and transfer the stuff to the computer. By which time that Compaq Pressario P166 from 1995 is so outdated it doesn't have enough memory to even view a single image from their spank'n new D8000. That's irrelevant as it would take an hour to transfer 1 image over via 10Mbps Ethernet.

As you can see, for the average mom'n'pop this is an arduous task. And you expect them to manage and sync 3 copies? Ain't gonna happen.

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On a clear disk you can seek forever.

PM sent.

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http://www.northwind.gr
SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners

I appreciate, again, the help and knowledge you all have shared. Yes, I should have backed up, foolish on my part.

Cleanroom: Could I possibly mail the SD card to you to look at and see if indeed repairable?



Thank you.