How Does NVMe Recovery Differ from SATA?
NVMe uses the PCIe bus and its own command set, not the ATA commands SATA drives use. Recovery tools designed for SATA cannot interrogate an NVMe controller. NVMe drives also run at higher clock speeds, generate more heat, implement more aggressive TRIM, and use hardware encryption by default on over 90% of modern drives.
SATA SSDs communicate through AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) using ATA commands. NVMe replaces this with a protocol designed specifically for flash storage: multiple submission and completion queues, memory-mapped doorbell registers, and direct PCIe lane access. A SATA recovery tool lacks the PCIe logic required to send NVMe admin commands to the controller.
The PC-3000 Portable III hardware acts as a PCIe Root Complex, managing memory mapping and doorbell signaling to communicate with NVMe controllers that have entered a fault state. It supports vendor-specific diagnostic modes for Samsung, Phison, Silicon Motion, Marvell, and Western Digital/SanDisk NVMe controllers.
NVMe's Deallocate command (the NVMe equivalent of TRIM) triggers more aggressive background garbage collection than SATA TRIM on most implementations, further shrinking the forensic window for deleted data. For a detailed comparison of NVMe versus SATA recovery challenges, see our NVMe vs SATA SSD recovery guide.
What Causes NVMe Drives to Fail?
NVMe drives fail from thermal stress, PCIe electrical issues, firmware corruption, power loss during writes, and NAND wear. Samsung 980/990 Pro drives have a documented firmware bug that causes rapid health degradation. Power surges can destroy the controller's voltage regulator, killing the drive instantly.
- ●Controller burnout from thermal throttling failure, common in laptops with restricted airflow over the M.2 slot
- ●PCIe lane connection failure from M.2 slot damage, bent connector pins, or cracked solder joints on the drive
- ●Firmware corruption after a failed update or sudden power loss during a write to the service area
- ●Write cache data loss from unexpected shutdown during heavy sequential writes
- ●NAND cell wear on QLC drives under sustained write workloads that exceed the SLC cache
- ●Samsung 980/990 Pro firmware bug causing rapid health percentage drops; Samsung released patches, but drives that degraded before the patch may need professional recovery
- ●Power surge destroying the controller's voltage regulator or the PCIe interface circuitry
How Do We Recover Data from a Dead NVMe Drive?
We diagnose the failure mode using FLIR thermal imaging and PC-3000 NVMe modules. If the board is damaged, component-level repair restores the controller. If firmware is corrupted, we bypass it and reconstruct the translation layer. Chip-off is the final escalation for non-encrypted drives with destroyed controllers.
- 01
Controller and NAND Identification
Identify the NVMe controller (Samsung, Phison, Silicon Motion, Marvell, WD/SanDisk) and NAND configuration. This determines which PC-3000 module and firmware loader to use.
- 02
Thermal and Electrical Diagnosis
FLIR thermal scan checks for shorts or burned components on the PCB before applying power. Voltage rails are tested individually with a bench power supply to isolate shorted components without risking further damage.
- 03
Board Repair (If Needed)
Component-level repair via JBC microsoldering: replace voltage regulators, rework controller BGA connections, or replace passive components. The goal is to restore enough controller functionality for PC-3000 access while preserving the encryption keys in the secure enclave.
- 04
PC-3000 NVMe Recovery
The PC-3000 Portable III enters technological mode to bypass corrupted firmware and access NAND directly. The translation layer is reconstructed from surviving metadata, and the drive presents its real capacity and file system.
- 05
Escalation to Chip-Off
If the controller is completely dead and the drive does not use hardware encryption, the case escalates to chip-off NAND recovery. If the drive uses always-on encryption and the controller cannot be revived, we inform you that the data is unrecoverable.
- 06
Data Extraction and Verification
The entire drive is imaged sector-by-sector to a known-good destination. Files are verified against directory structure and delivered on your choice of return media. No data, no charge.
What NVMe Form Factors Do We Support?
We recover NVMe drives in every standard form factor: M.2 2280, M.2 2230, M.2 2242, U.2 enterprise, PCIe add-in card, and soldered NVMe found in Apple MacBooks. Each form factor presents different physical access and connector challenges during diagnosis.
- M.2 2280
- Standard desktop and laptop NVMe form factor. 22mm wide, 80mm long. The most common NVMe drive we receive. Samsung 970/980/990 series, WD Black SN770/SN850, Crucial P5 Plus all use this size.
- M.2 2230
- Compact form used in Steam Deck, Microsoft Surface Pro, Dell XPS, and Framework laptops. Smaller PCB means denser component placement and tighter thermal margins.
- M.2 2242
- Intermediate size found in some industrial, embedded, and thin-client devices. Less common in consumer hardware.
- U.2 (2.5" NVMe)
- Enterprise data center drives using the SFF-8639 connector. Higher capacities and power loss protection capacitors. Intel DC P4510, Samsung PM9A3, and Micron 9400 are common models.
- PCIe AIC (Add-In Card)
- Full-size PCIe cards used in high-performance workstations and servers. Intel Optane 905P and Samsung PM1733 are examples.
- Soldered NVMe
- Found in Apple MacBooks with T2 or M-series chips. NAND is soldered directly to the logic board and encrypted by the SoC. Subject to T2/M-series encryption limitations.
How Much Does NVMe Data Recovery Cost?
NVMe recovery starts at $200 for firmware-level work and scales with complexity. Board-level repair and chip-off fall in higher tiers. Every case starts with a free evaluation and a firm quote before any paid work. If we recover nothing, you pay nothing. No attempt fees.
NVMe recovery: Starts at $200. Free evaluation, firm quote, no data = no charge.
Large labs quote $1,600 to $2,100 for NVMe recovery or hide behind "call for quote." We publish our pricing because you should know the cost before you ship your drive. Simple firmware recovery is at the lower end. Board-level controller repair with microsoldering is mid-range. Chip-off NAND extraction on non-encrypted drives is at the upper end.
See our full SSD data recovery page for all pricing tiers. Call (512) 212-9111 for a free evaluation.
Why Are NVMe Drives More Vulnerable to Power Loss?
NVMe's higher throughput means more data sits in the volatile write cache (DRAM or Host Memory Buffer) at any given moment. A sudden power loss during a write operation loses everything in that cache and can corrupt the FTL mapping if the controller was mid-update. Consumer NVMe drives almost never include power loss protection capacitors.
A SATA SSD writing at 500 MB/s has a smaller window of vulnerability than an NVMe drive writing at 7,000 MB/s. The NVMe drive has more data in flight between the host and the NAND at any given instant. If power drops, the write cache contents (DRAM or HMB pages mapped into host memory) are lost. The data that was queued for writing to NAND never arrives.
The greater risk is FTL corruption. If the controller was updating its Flash Translation Layer metadata when power dropped, the partially written FTL leaves the controller unable to boot. This triggers the same firmware corruption failure mode seen on SATA drives, but NVMe's higher throughput makes the timing window larger.
Enterprise NVMe drives (U.2, EDSFF) include capacitor arrays that hold enough charge to flush the write cache to NAND during a power loss event. Consumer M.2 NVMe drives do not. If your data is critical and you are using a consumer NVMe drive, a UPS is the only external protection against this failure.
Recovery Examples
Recovery examples from our lab are being documented and will be added here.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does NVMe recovery differ from SATA SSD recovery?
NVMe drives communicate over PCIe using a different command set than SATA. Recovery tools designed for SATA cannot communicate with NVMe controllers. The PC-3000 Portable III with the NVMe-specific module is required. NVMe drives also have nearly universal hardware encryption, which makes chip-off recovery impossible on most modern drives.
Can you recover data from a dead NVMe SSD?
In most cases, yes, if the NAND flash is intact. We use PC-3000 NVMe modules to bypass corrupted firmware and communicate directly with the controller. If the controller is electrically damaged, board-level microsoldering can often restore it. The primary limitation is hardware encryption; if the controller is destroyed and the drive uses always-on encryption, the data is unrecoverable.
How much does NVMe data recovery cost?
NVMe recovery starts at $200 for firmware-level work and scales with complexity. Board-level repair and chip-off are higher tiers. Free evaluation, firm quote before any paid work. No data recovered means no charge.
Why are NVMe drives more vulnerable to power loss?
NVMe's higher throughput means more data sits in the volatile write cache at any given moment. A sudden power loss during a write operation loses everything in that cache and can corrupt the Flash Translation Layer if the controller was mid-update. Consumer NVMe drives almost never include power loss protection capacitors, unlike enterprise models.
Data Security During NVMe Recovery
Your NVMe drive stays in our Austin lab from intake to return. All firmware recovery and imaging happens on isolated workstations with no network connectivity. Recovered data is returned on encrypted media, and all working copies are purged using DOD 5220.22-M compliant erasure. NDAs are available on request.
NVMe SSD not responding?
Free evaluation. Starts at $200. No data, no fee.