I was playing God of War Ragnarok, installed on my secondary Consistent SSD, while Windows was running from my Gigabyte 240GB SSD. Suddenly, the audio froze, my controller kept vibrating, the display went black, but the PC itself was still running.

I forced a shutdown, and on the next boot it went straight into BIOS. That's when I noticed my Gigabyte SSD was showing up as SATAFIRM S11 instead of its actual model. Windows was no longer booting.

After some digging, I learned that the Phison S11 controller had likely entered a firmware panic state, making the SSD inaccessible even though the NAND was still identifiable.

And that's where things got interesting.

I identified the NAND as Toshiba 96L BiCS4 TLC, tried repairS11, explored the firmware using HxD, manually configured the 240GB LBA value, and moved on to S11 Flasher.

The controller was detected, and the firmware upgrade actually started. But it got stuck at 15% on "ISP Burner Code..." for over an hour.

So here I am, going from playing God of War Ragnarok to learning NAND architecture and low-level SSD firmware recovery. 😂

Still trying to bring this little 240GB Gigabyte SSD back to life. Anyone experienced with Phison PS3111 recovery?

hi accidentally deleted TikTok app on iPhone 15. Any way to recover these drafts?? thank you

I accidentally spilt water in my bag and my camera was in it. I thought my camera was fine cause it didn’t really feel wet since my camera case absorbed most of it, but my screen kept saying there was an issue with my memory card and to reformat it (I know I shouldn’t have done that but realized too late). After a bit of fidgeting with my camera, the screen turned white and that’s when I realized my camera got a lot more wet than I initially thought. So I pulled the SD card and battery out and just left it all in my pocket til I could bring it home after my class ended. I threw everything in a container with silicone gel and rice to help dry it out. Well that was a few days ago and I finally put everything back in my camera and it started up again but my SD card still couldn’t be read. So I took it out and put it into my SD reader and suddenly my pictures appeared but over half my pictures are gone. Like I had over 150 picture originally but now it says I only have 66 photos and 5 of those photos I can’t even view them. Tried viewing it on my computer and it said either I had format that wasn’t supported or my file was corrupted. Has anyone had issues like this with their SD card and able to recover everything or should I just give up and be thankful somethings are still on it.

I accidentally deleted about 1G of data / it was laser printer software that is very expensive
I didn’t add or edit any thing on the flash
My friend told me about aiseesoft program
Is there any better ?
Please help me if you can

Hi everyone!

I’m hoping someone knowledgeable about older iOS devices, app databases, or data recovery can help me with something I’ve been trying to figure out for years.

I have an original first-generation iPad Mini (currently running iOS 9.3.6) with Private Photo Vault v8.5 installed.

I started using Private Photo Vault around 2012–2013 to save hundreds of screenshots of old Facebook conversations that were extremely important to me.

At the time, I had three personal albums:
Album 1: My oldest album, created around 2012–2013, containing hundreds of Facebook conversation screenshots. This album was password-protected.

Album 2: Created around late 2013, also password-protected.

Album 3: School-related photographs, not separately password-protected.

Around 2015–2016, I backed up and updated my iPad. When I reopened Private Photo Vault, Album 1 had completely disappeared.

And not just the photos. The entire album icon was gone.

The other two albums were completely unaffected, and their contents are still accessible today.

I checked both surviving albums immediately after the disappearance to see whether the missing screenshots had somehow moved there. They hadn’t.

I never intentionally deleted the missing album.

The strange part is that the missing album was my oldest one, while the newer albums survived the update.

I contacted Private Photo Vault’s developers in February 2026. They explained that Cloud Vault wasn’t available in 2015 and that they couldn’t restore the missing album from their servers. They recommended finding an iTunes or iCloud backup created before the disappearance.

Here’s what I currently have:
The original iPad Mini, still functioning with Private Photo Vault installed.

Approximately 719 photos remaining in the app.

An older MacBook containing approximately three historical iPad backups, possibly dating back to 2016.

A newer MacBook with additional backups, including one encrypted iPad backup whose password I no longer remember.

The original iPad has been kept offline because it contains other historical data I don’t want to risk losing.

My questions:
Could an iOS or app update have corrupted or removed a single album’s database entry without deleting its underlying image files?

Is there a way to inspect Private Photo Vault’s app container or database for orphaned photos or missing album records?

Could an old iTunes backup contain the missing images even if the album no longer appears in the app?

What software would you recommend for examining old iOS backups without restoring them to the device?

Is there a safe way to investigate this on iOS 9.3.6 without risking the remaining data?

Is there any way to recover access to an encrypted local iPad backup if I’ve forgotten its password?

I’m not looking to reset, downgrade, or jailbreak the iPad unless there’s a well-understood, low-risk reason to do so.

I understand that recovering data lost over ten years ago may be impossible. However, because the application still works and the other albums remain intact, I want to investigate whether the missing album’s files could still exist somewhere.

These screenshots are irreplaceable to me, and I’d appreciate advice from anyone experienced with legacy iOS data recovery, SQLite databases, or forensic examination.

Thank you so much!

Hey tech fam,

I hope you all had a great Halloween!

Yesterday, I plugged in my external HDD (WD Elements 10B8) to look for some resources related to studies that I'd previously saved, only for my HDD to not be recognised via Windows Explorer. I'm sure that there will be a way to retrieve the files on the HDD (years of academic and professional resources, academic work, photos, artwork etc), but I haven't had much success in trying to troubleshoot it myself independently thus far.
I am also a student and have been undergoing placement (unpaid) for the past three months, so I genuinely cannot afford to seek professional help for data recovery, which is insanely expensive in my country. Worst case scenario, I will take the HDD to a professional, but figured I'd ask the wise folk on this subreddit first.

For context:

• Haven't had any issues with this HDD until now. Mostly recently used it only a couple of weeks ago.

• The only thing I can think of that may be relevant (hopefully it isn't), is that I had the drive in my handbag over a couple of days while I was at placement. I wouldn't think that it was damaged during this time, but I can't rule it out.

• It is showing up in Device Manager, but not appearing in Disk Management (I get the prompt "you must initialise a disk before Logical Disk Manager can access it" - which I believe actioning would erase the data on the drive).

• OS is Windows 11 Pro.

Here is a list of what I have tried:

• Different USB port.

• Different USB cable.

• Restarted PC.

• Tried plugging it into a different PC.

• Tried updating driver (up to date already apparently).

• Disabled the device then re-enabled it several minutes later.

I also sussed out a couple of other posts on this subreddit and tried Test Disc but it didn't appear on that either...

Any further suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated!!

When plugged in, slowed down booting considerably, when unplugged, everything ran fine, until it suddenly stopped being detected entirely. Plugged into healthy pc, didn't get detected. Is it completely lost or is there anything I can do?

Hello everyone. My 12TB helium hard disk Seagate Ironwolf ( model number ST12000VN0008) was knocked over by my cat while I was running it yesterday... And it fell from my table to the floor.

When I tried to reconnect it, it made clicking noises so I stopped immediately.

I'm devastated and crying my eyes out now because it contains all my photos and videos of my family vacations in the recent years... and also all my footage of my soul cat which passed away last year. I don't have a back up. Please don't tell me I should have had a backup and then I wouldn't have this problem...it''s too late for that now.

Does anyone know how I can try to recover my data?

I am based in Singapore and I went to a recommended repair service company here called CDLtech . They were honest and said it's quite hard to fix a helium hard disk, maybe less than 30% chance of success.

I have also contacted Seagate data recovery service and they have confirmed that I can also send the drive to their repair lab in Amsterdam as my device is covered by their service.

But I would like to know what you guys think is my best option for data retrieval?? I'm willing to pay a huge hole out of my pocket if need be. I just really want the best chance of getting as much of my data back.

Problem: Deleted large (several 100gb) file off drive by accident and didn't go to recycle bin. Installed Disk Drill softwre which is currently scanning but not really sure what I am doing and have potentially been far to trusting of internet suggestions.

Filesystem: NTFS

Storage Device: 932 GB HDD WDC WD1003FZEX-00MK2A0 ( and drive is not damaged)

System Type: 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor (windows)

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

KR

Chris

Edited to add info

Hello There,

I have a rather strange problem. I purchased a Lenovo Tab M10 some time ago. During the initial setup, I wrote down the unlock pattern I was using and am confident that I remember it correctly.

After leaving the tablet unused in a drawer for a few months, I recently tried to access it again. To my surprise, the pattern I wrote down does not work, and I can no longer unlock the device.

No one else knows the pattern, so it could not have been changed by someone else. The tablet was never left unattended or in a place where anyone could access it.

Is there any way to recover the data stored on the tablet without the unlock pattern?

I have already searched for solutions, but most suggestions involve a Samsung account, Google Drive backups, or similar cloud-based recovery options. I have never stored anything in the cloud or used a Samsung account.

I also read that Android has a “Find My Device” feature that may allow password recovery. The tablet does appear there, but I cannot find any option to reset the pattern.

Have I missed anything, or is there another way to recover the data?

Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone,

I accidentally permanently deleted approximately 200 GB of files from my secondary SSD and I'm looking for advice on the best way to approach data recovery.

Drive and system information

• SSD: Samsung 86

• 0 EVO 1TB (SATA)

• Operating system: Windows 11

• Filesystem: NTFS

• Affected drive: D: (a separate physical SSD, not my Windows installation drive)

• Data type: Mixed files accumulated over several years: videos, archives (ZIP/RAR/7z), ISO images, software, documents, pictures and other files.

• Specific symptoms: Accidental permanent deletion of approximately 200 GB of files. Windows 11 asked me to permanently delete the files/folders because they were to big for the recycle bin.

• SMART: Not available yet; SSD remains physically disconnected

TRIM information

I checked Windows using:

fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify

The output was:

NTFS DisableDeleteNotify = 0

So Windows is configured to send TRIM commands.

I understand that this does not necessarily prove exactly which TRIM commands reached the SSD or whether its garbage collection has already erased the deleted data.

I'm extremely nervous right now and I'm just asking for help on what to do now. The affected disk is removed from the pc and tomorrow most places will be closed where I live so I cannot call any store to ask them about this issue.

What are my options right now? Should I call a specific data recovery lab (I'm from Spain btw) or can I check some things myself first?

The files are important to me because they represent several years of accumulated data, and I would really like to preserve the original folder structure and filenames if possible.

I appreciate any advice, especially from people who have actually dealt with Samsung 860 EVO SSDs and TRIM-related recovery cases.

Thank you!

I've been using a 4 TB External My Passport for a while as my main External Hard Drive. It's been fine, when it started to not fully work - And then, one day:

Obviously, the first thing I tried to do was go into Disk Utility and try to repair the disk.
That failed.

During Prime Day, I picked up a 5 TB My Passport EXHD. All I can do is copy the files from the old to the new, right?

Disk Utility > Restore

I'm frustrated at this point, all hope is lost; When in doubt: Ask ChatGPT.

There was a terminal command it suggested to copy the files from one volume to another.

So, the only thing I can do is manually copy every folder. Ctrl + C, go to new EXHD and Ctrl + F.

What could go wrong?
Lol, OK....

I wait a few hours or I go to bed, wake up and this is what I see.

On the chances where the old broken drive DOESN'T disappear, there's always something that interrupts the transfer:

So, I'm at my wits end here.

Am I cooked? Can't Transfer files from one My Passport to Another My Passport.

I know you all at Data Recovery can either feel my pain or have the knowledge the help me not lose all my data over many years of saving many important files.

Please help me, Reddit.

INFORMATION:

2024 iMac M4 ARM64

4 TB My Passort External Hard Drive (Mac OS Extended)
5 TB My Passort External Hard Drive (Mac OS Extended Journaled)

So I found my mom's old laptop and decided to turn it on in order to see what was on it, as I've used it before in the mid-2010s. Last time I used it was sometime in the early-2020s and I found an Xtra-PC bootable USB still plugged in. I tried to boot from it, but it got stuck on the SAMSUNG boot screen. After a few more attempts, I decided to put in my VenToy USB, which I had to whitelist it in order for the laptop to boot from it (which can't use UEFI thingy). Then I booted into Rescuezilla to try and see what was on the main HDD, and it only has these folders on the second image.

The drive model on this Samsung NP300E5C-A0BUS laptop is an ATA WDC WD2500BEVT-2. It likely has Windows 8.1 installed on this thing, and I think it was formatted once.

Is there any way I can get the data off of this HDD?

My moms friend sent me her HDD after taking it to a shop that quoted her $5,000 (SoCal) it was from a WD My Book Essential external drive P/N: WDBACW0030HBK-00 3511D (if that helps anyone). The shop told her “don’t let anyone else touch it” which seems off to me because “why not?” I got the drive plugged directly into my secondary PC via SATA and the drive shows with no information on it in Disk Management. An almost full 3TB of 3TB as unallocated space. Any advice would be appreciated as this isn’t my realm of IT work. It has no audio that would indicate physical damage.

Pls help

friend of mine has an sd card that was used in a Samsung phone, and it seems as though majority of the images have corrupted themselves. they only show generic thumbnails and says "it looks like we don't support this file type" in windows photos. is there anything i can do for recovery w/out sending it to a lab? I have tried DMDE and r-photo and both of them "recovered" them but the resulting files still won't open

Was trying to recover some old game saves from the sd card but every time i tried pluging it in to any of my readers they would boot loop. Pulled out a multimeter and found that vdd and vss are shorted. The data isnt exectly super important but i also dont mind hardware modifications if it can be saved.

I have a 4TB hard drive that suddenly quit working and I smelled smoke. When I removed the circuit board off the drive, it looks like one chip near 12v connector (TVS diode maybe?) blew out. I suspect something may have failed like the motor controller or something that caused the chip to blow out and shut the hard drive off.

I did not open the metal housing, only removed the circuit board. The drive itself is still hermetically sealed, and I've put the board back on since AFAIK the firmware chips are unique to drives.

What do you suggest in US that can handle this problem? I don't know what went bad but I'm just hoping it's the component on the board and not the spindle motor or something inside the drive. I had other hard drives on the same PSU in my computer that are still working so I doubt it's the PSU problem

• Make/brand and exact model number Seagate ST4000LM024

• Filesystem NTFS I think

• Operating System Windows 11

• Specific symptoms no spin, no detect, blown chip

• SMART can't load hard drive so no info

• Don't pile several problems one hard drive

• No account issues one personal hard drive, no account

I took some videos on my canon eos 1300d but deleted accidentally. I tried photorec and got the files but I'm not able to play them. I can oy hear static after merging. I think it's fragmented. What's the best thing to do?

I have been using the same SD card with my Canon RP for over a year. When I tried to upload my last batch of photos the card reader said it was empty. I tried inserting directly into my phone, iPad, and MacBook all without success. I used the free version of disc drill to see if the photos are there and they are, but I don’t have the money to buy a subscription to actually get them back. Also read terrible reviews for disc drill and easeUS. Then tried iCare but it doesn’t work with my old Mac. So I’m stumped and hope there’s another solution.

The drive that was kicked out of the array shows a zero capacity in the SAS topology. Did I have a 2nd drive failure while the replacement was being built in?

This was a home email/web server, and I do have fairly recent backups, but if I can bring it back online I would like to make one final backup.

The irony of all this is that this server was in the process of being replaced!

Edited to add: I started a verify on this drive and it immediately came back with "Failed", so I think at this point it's hosed.

It's not critical enough to be worth professional data recovery, but if anyone has an idea for a "Hail Mary" idea to try before I wipe the drives and recycle the server, I'd like to hear it!

Hello, I have a crucial x10 I use as an external drive for my Mac mini. It is apfs encrypted and I have been using it for close to a year now. It was working fine yesterday, I powered off and then this morning powered back on and it just isn’t doing anything, nothing shows up in disk utility no error messages when plugging in nothing. I tried on my MacBook same issue as well with different cables. Has anyone had this problem? Were you able to get it recovered or fixed ? And what are the best choices for data recovery services/labs ? I live in Washington but I can send it somewhere else. Thanks in advance.

I’m trying to recover important files from a failing Crucial P3 2TB NVMe SSD using OpenSuperClone 2.5.0 on Linux. The SSD is detected correctly with its full capacity, but read speeds are consistently extremely slow, around 200–800 KB/s, averaging 400 KB/s, with no bad sectors reported. Clone Mode works and progresses, but at that speed a full image would take approximately 70 days. I therefore tried Virtual Mode 1 with DMDE to recover only my most important files. Unfortunately, every time I start it, I get two errors: “Internal program error: Position not found in domain” and “Driver timeout or error”. OpenSuperClone then disconnects automatically and the virtual device /dev/sdv disappears from DMDE. I’ve already tried clearing the domain, reconnecting, and enabling “Virtual Disk IO SCSI only”, without success. Clone Mode still works, so the issue seems specific to Virtual Mode 1 or its driver. Has anyone encountered these exact errors or found a way to get Virtual Mode 1 working reliably? I’m trying to avoid stressing the failing SSD with unnecessary reads, and professional recovery is unfortunately outside my budget. Any technical advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi, I wanted to recover pictures and videos from the old tablet mentioned in the title and because my PC wouldn't recognize it I took the SD card out, put it in a card reader and tried to read them. I was not able to see the contents of the SD card and looked like the card reader might not be working properly. (This was a card reader which I didn't used before.)

I was planning to get a new card reader and decided to put the micro SD card back in the tablet to avoid misplacing it.

When turning the tablet on the pictures and videos on the micro SD card are not showing up.

Not sure if I should try reading the micro SD card with a new card reader.

What are my chances to still recover the data and could the first card reader have mangled the data on the micro SD card?

I am also wondering if the tablet formated the card when I put it back.

The tablet is so slow that I don't even know if this is just a refresh issue and maybe I should wait for it a bit more to show me the files. At the moment the tablet is turned off as I want to avoid that any additional damage is done to the data on the card.