MjM Data Recovery Ltd have been recovering data since 1999
Removal of the chips are fairly straightforward. For most of them you can just apply enough heat and they will come off. This stage can become complicated if the devices are glued onto the PCB or are BGA type pads on the bottom of the chip that are not easily accessible. Hot-air guns can be used, but we prefer Infra-Red for BGA type Flash memory removal as the process is cleaner and there is less chance of pad damage.
Once the chip has been read, the next stage is very complex. You will need to have access to a NAND flash reader. There are hundreds of different types of chips with varying block sizes, some are designed to be used according to the device controller on the PCB. There are 3 favoured devices for reading NAND chips, there are three main contenders in the Flash Recovery Market.
Soft Center Flash reader Flash Extractor.
This has been available since the early 2000's and we bought our first one in 2004 when it came with DOS based software. It is still high up on our list of equipment to use. There are regular updates, often on a daily basis for the tool to cover new devices as they appear. There is only one issue, the price. It costs around $1700 a year for updates, plus the original cost for the reader. If you want to read other devices than 48 pin TSOP NAND then you will need to purchase the adapters separately. However, it is a great tool and is constantly in use here at MjM Data Recovery.
There are some excellent alternatives and they are both on a par with the Soft Center tool and both have extra features that allow working with failing NAND flash devices or devices that have parameters that are not easily changed on the Soft Center tool.
PC3000 Flash from Ace Laboratory - the world renowned company that develops the flagship data recovery tools used by almost every data recovery company in the world, Ace entered the Flash Recovery market with the PC3000 Flash. This has become a favourite tool for Flash Recovery as for most jobs, the process is fairly straight forward. It reads the chips and performs the analysis to the point where the file structures are available. If it fails to find them, it also has some great manual options for block sizes, read voltage among other parameters such as waveform timings, etc. to assist in reading problem NAND chips. There are also purchase options for a voltage controller add-on and the latest exciting new about the 'Spider' tool for recovering from Monolithic Devices has caused quite a stir in the Flash Recovery groups. There are usually 2 to 4 updates a year, so is not always up to date but is an incredibly valuable tool for flash data recovery.
Rusolut from Poland/Russia
This is a fairly new tool but not for beginners as it has some of the most advanced facilities built in to the software where with skill, almost any new device can be recovered. The innovative VNR software allows the engineer to build a recovery flow of each stage of the process. Each with its own fully adjustable settings. Another amazing feature is the ability to look at the dump as a bitmap. This highlights areas where common values can be identified, zoomed in and located directly in the hex dump. This shows up anomalies in the data structures that can be worked around, or parameters altered to see if a better image can be made of that section. The Device comes with a good range of adapters that allow reading of around 98% of devices that you will see. As an option there are also some other adapters for EMMC chips for mobile phones.
Both the PC3000 Flash and Rusolut offer training courses in how best to use their Flash recovery equipment so that people that are new to Flash Recovery can learn how professionals do the job.
Rebuilding the Folder and File structures.
Each of the above readers come with their own software and between them will cover the vast majority of devices you will see as a data recovery engineer. Every now and again, a device will come along that is not covered by any of the above suppliers. So this is where the technical support of the suppliers comes in. All the above suppliers we have found will respond quickly and try to solve the problem.
Information about our Flash Recovery
Removal of the chips are fairly straightforward. For most of them you can just apply enough heat and they will come off. This stage can become complicated if the devices are glued onto the PCB or are BGA type pads on the bottom of the chip that are not easily accessible. Hot-air guns can be used, but we prefer Infra-Red for BGA type Flash memory removal as the process is cleaner and there is less chance of pad damage.
Once the chip has been read, the next stage is very complex. You will need to have access to a NAND flash reader. There are hundreds of different types of chips with varying block sizes, some are designed to be used according to the device controller on the PCB. There are 3 favoured devices for reading NAND chips, there are three main contenders in the Flash Recovery Market.
Soft Center Flash reader Flash Extractor.
This has been available since the early 2000's and we bought our first one in 2004 when it came with DOS based software. It is still high up on our list of equipment to use. There are regular updates, often on a daily basis for the tool to cover new devices as they appear. There is only one issue, the price. It costs around $1700 a year for updates, plus the original cost for the reader. If you want to read other devices than 48 pin TSOP NAND then you will need to purchase the adapters separately. However, it is a great tool and is constantly in use here at MjM Data Recovery.
There are some excellent alternatives and they are both on a par with the Soft Center tool and both have extra features that allow working with failing NAND flash devices or devices that have parameters that are not easily changed on the Soft Center tool.
PC3000 Flash from Ace Laboratory - the world renowned company that develops the flagship data recovery tools used by almost every data recovery company in the world, Ace entered the Flash Recovery market with the PC3000 Flash. This has become a favourite tool for Flash Recovery as for most jobs, the process is fairly straight forward. It reads the chips and performs the analysis to the point where the file structures are available. If it fails to find them, it also has some great manual options for block sizes, read voltage among other parameters such as waveform timings, etc. to assist in reading problem NAND chips. There are also purchase options for a voltage controller add-on and the latest exciting new about the 'Spider' tool for recovering from Monolithic Devices has caused quite a stir in the Flash Recovery groups. There are usually 2 to 4 updates a year, so is not always up to date but is an incredibly valuable tool for flash data recovery.
Rusolut from Poland/Russia
This is a fairly new tool but not for beginners as it has some of the most advanced facilities built in to the software where with skill, almost any new device can be recovered. The innovative VNR software allows the engineer to build a recovery flow of each stage of the process. Each with its own fully adjustable settings. Another amazing feature is the ability to look at the dump as a bitmap. This highlights areas where common values can be identified, zoomed in and located directly in the hex dump. This shows up anomalies in the data structures that can be worked around, or parameters altered to see if a better image can be made of that section. The Device comes with a good range of adapters that allow reading of around 98% of devices that you will see. As an option there are also some other adapters for EMMC chips for mobile phones.
Both the PC3000 Flash and Rusolut offer training courses in how best to use their Flash recovery equipment so that people that are new to Flash Recovery can learn how professionals do the job.
Rebuilding the Folder and File structures.
Each of the above readers come with their own software and between them will cover the vast majority of devices you will see as a data recovery engineer. Every now and again, a device will come along that is not covered by any of the above suppliers. So this is where the technical support of the suppliers comes in. All the above suppliers we have found will respond quickly and try to solve the problem.
Information about our Flash Recovery
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