SD Card Data Recovery
SD card recovery starts at £100 for logical faults, rising to £300–700+ for controller failure, chip-off or monolith work. Standard turnaround is 5–10 working days, or 24 hours on the emergency tier. Standard diagnostics are free, and no recovery fee is due if we cannot recover useful data.
Start a free diagnosis
- Freestandard diagnosis
- No useful datano recovery fee
- Londonin-house laboratory
- 24 hoursEmergency target
What happened to the card?
A corrupted camera card, a worn dashcam card and a cracked monolith do not follow the same recovery route.
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Blank, 0 bytes or format request
The card is detected but its file system or capacity is wrong.
- Do this now
- Remove it from the device and lock a full-size SD card where possible.
- Likely lab route
- Read stability and file-system metadata are assessed from an image.
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Intermittent or not detected
The card appears only sometimes or stops during copying.
- Do this now
- Avoid repeated readers and adapters.
- Likely lab route
- Contacts, controller behaviour, NAND wear and supported access are separated.
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Cracked, snapped or damaged contacts
The casing or monolithic package has physical damage.
- Do this now
- Keep every piece dry and protected; do not tape over contacts.
- Likely lab route
- Microscope inspection determines whether board repair or test-point access remains viable.
The controller is the card’s filing system
It maps logical files to changing NAND pages, applies error correction and hides worn blocks. A raw flash read still needs that logic reconstructed.
- Card contacts
- Controller
- Error correction
- NAND pages
- Recovered files
Dashcam and CCTV workloads can wear flash even when the card looks physically perfect.
What may remain recoverable
Diagnosis is useful when it narrows the route and the limits. We state both before you approve recovery work.
What may be possible
- Photos or footage after file-system corruption where sectors remain readable.
- Controller-independent access through supported monolith test points.
- Useful partial recovery from worn NAND when priority files can still be reconstructed.
What can stop recovery
- New recordings may overwrite the previous files.
- Cracked NAND dies and unsupported monolith layouts can prevent access.
- Severe wear can exceed the available error-correction margin.
What happens behind the symptoms
Flash storage hides its internal organisation. Controller behaviour, translation and the state of the memory decide what can be acquired.
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Why a card showing "0 bytes" is not empty
Cameras and dashcams write to the same physical blocks over and over, and the small controller chip inside the card keeps a table of which blocks hold which files. When that table is corrupted by a power loss mid-write or a sudden card removal, the card looks blank or asks to be reformatted even though some footage and photos may still remain in readable flash pages.
Micro-soldering under the stereo microscope -
Working through the test pads
Many microSD and monolithic SD cards expose test points beneath the casing; other designs contain a small board with separate components. Where the controller cannot be trusted or external contacts are damaged, a supported layout may be accessed through those points under microscope inspection. The resulting raw pages still need error correction, controller translation and file reconstruction before they can become usable photos or recordings.
PC-3000 · surface and firmware diagnostics
What happens to your sd card
From first description to returned files, each stage has a clear decision and an agreed commercial limit.
View the complete recovery process-
Your enquiry
Tell us what happened
Describe the device, the failure and the files you need. We give you an initial price range before it is sent or dropped off.
Price range before arrival
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Lab diagnosis
We inspect it — free
An engineer identifies the fault, assesses complete and useful partial recovery, then prepares a written price or agreed range.
Fault, prospects and commercial limit confirmed
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Your decision
You approve the recovery
We explain the proposed work and timing. Recovery starts only after you have accepted the quote.
No work starts without consent
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Secure return
Your files come back
Recovered data is copied to suitable return media and sent back with your original device.
No recovered data, no recovery fee
Recovery priority
How fast do you need your data back?
The engineering process and level of care stay the same. A faster service moves your case forward in the lab queue.
Turnaround starts when the device reaches our laboratory.
- 01
Standard
5–10 working days
Targets recovery and return within 5–10 working days of the device reaching our lab, subject to diagnosis, parts and media condition.
Recovery price Included - 02
Express
3–5 working days
Prioritises the case and targets 3–5 working days from arrival, subject to diagnosis, parts, media condition and data volume.
Priority surcharge +40% - 03
Emergency
24 hours
Gives the case highest queue priority and targets 24 hours from arrival when the fault, parts, media condition and data volume allow it.
Priority surcharge +70%
Questions about sd card
01 Can you recover data from an encrypted SD card?
Only if the required key, password or original authorised device is available. We may recover readable sectors from a damaged card, but the result remains encrypted. Proof of ownership is required for service and does not provide a technical bypass for properly encrypted data.
02 Can you recover data from outdated SD cards?
Possibly. Age itself is not the deciding factor, but repeated write cycles, storage conditions, controller support and physical damage all matter. Older formats may need different adapters or procedures. We assess the card's exact layout and condition before estimating whether a complete or useful partial recovery is realistic.
03 How long will it take to recover my SD card data?
This depends on the severity of your SD card fault and whether you have opted for a faster service. We offer an express recovery service that takes 3 to 5 working days and an emergency option which can take just 1 day.
04 How much does SD card data recovery cost?
Standard diagnostics are free, so you find out what is wrong before approving recovery. Logical faults start at £100; controller, chip-off or monolith work usually runs from £300 to £700+, with unusual layouts quoted individually. Express service adds 40% and Emergency adds 70%. If we cannot recover useful data, there is no recovery fee.
Tell us what happened
Describe the device, the symptom, what has already been tried and which files matter most. We will tell you the safest next step.
Prefer to speak to someone? 020 8543 7088
Already asked to send the device? Follow the packing and delivery checklist.