Class 11 Data Restoration Startup Repair and Secure Disposal - PrutchD/code-fellows-reading-notes GitHub Wiki

Working with electronics throughout my career has taught me many things, but nothing more important than all things fail at some point. Computers are no exception. SSDs are becoming the norm for storage. Even these modern drives are susceptible to failure. When this happens it is vital to have a plan not only for recover but to have been planning by creating backups so data is not lost forever.

Knowing the warning signs of an SSD failure can save a lot of trouble. Decreasing performance, crashing applications, inability of the system to move, save or even read files could all be indicators of an SSD with Bad Block. These can be corrupted storage area or even have physical dammage. Other symptoms of a failing SSD could be repeated crashing of the system during the boot process or if the SSD only functions in the ready only mode where you can no longer write to or make changes to the drive.

There are several recovery methods that can be tried to salvage a failing drive. These include reformatting the drive and reinstalling the OS, power cycling, which is just cycling power for 30 min intervals of power with 30 seconds of power turne off all while the SATA connecter is disconnected form the drive, or even updating the firmware ( which may be corrupted) or drivers of the SSD.

Data disposal might be necessary for some very important reasons, such as security of secure information needing to be removed from a drive that is being replaced. One option to help with this is Derriks Boot and Nuke. This is a bootable ISO that will completely erase a hard drive for complete data destruction.

Different tools and strategies for data recovery for a failed SSD.