Norwich Data Recovery — No.1 SD, microSD & xD Memory Card Data Recovery Specialists

With 25+ years’ experience, Norwich Data Recovery provides professional recovery for all memory card types and every fault, from accidental deletion to advanced controller/FTL failures. We offer free diagnostics and an optional Critical Service (typically 48 hours) for urgent cases.

Memory Card Types We Recover

• SD family: SD / SDHC / SDXC / SDUC

• microSD family: microSD / microSDHC / microSDXC / microSDUC

• CF & successors: CompactFlash (CF), CFast 1/2, CFexpress (Type A/B/C), XQD

• Legacy/other: xD-Picture, Memory Stick (PRO/PRO-HG, Micro M2), MMC/RS-MMC, miniSD, SmartMedia, UFS Card (industrial/embedded)

Supported speed technologies: UHS-I / UHS-II, V30/V60/V90 video classes, A1/A2 app classes, UDMA (CF), PCIe/NVMe (CFexpress).

Top 20 Memory Card Brands in the UK & Popular Ranges

(Examples we frequently see—if yours isn’t listed, we still support it.)

1. SanDisk — Ultra / Extreme / Extreme Pro / High Endurance (SD & microSD)

2. Samsung — EVO Plus / PRO Plus / PRO Endurance (microSD & SD adapters)

3. Kingston — Canvas Select Plus / Canvas Go! Plus / Canvas React Plus (SD/microSD, UHS-II)

4. Lexar — Professional 1066x/1667x/1800x (UHS-I/II), Silver/Gold/DIAMOND CFexpress

5. PNY — Elite / Pro Elite / Premier-X (SD/microSD), XLR8 CFexpress

6. Integral — UltimaPro / UltimaPro X / High Endurance (SD/microSD)

7. Transcend — 300S/500S (UHS-I), 700S (UHS-II), High Endurance

8. KIOXIA (Toshiba) — EXCERIA / EXCERIA PRO (SD/microSD)

9. Sony — TOUGH (UHS-II SD), CFexpress Type A / G series

10. ProGrade Digital — V60/V90 UHS-II SD, CFexpress Cobalt/Gold

11. Delkin Devices — BLACK/Powerv90 (UHS-II), CFexpress POWER/BLACK

12. Angelbird — AV PRO SD (V60/V90), AV PRO CFexpress

13. Patriot — EP / LX series (SD/microSD)

14. ADATA — Premier / Premier Pro (SD/microSD)

15. Verbatim — Pro+ / Premium (SD/microSD)

16. TeamGroup — Elite / Pro (SD/microSD), CFexpress Card

17. Greenliant — Industrial SLC/MLC SD & microSD (embedded/harsh environments)

18. Swissbit — Industrial SD/microSD (SLC/MLC, extended temp)

19. ATP — Industrial SD/microSD (SLC/MLC/TLC with pSLC modes)

20. Hikvision/HikStorage — High Endurance (CCTV/dashcam-grade microSD)

Faults We Recover (Examples)

We routinely resolve: Accidental deletion/formatting, file-system corruption, physical damage, bad sectors/weak blocks, card not recognised, read/write errors, malware/virus, interrupted transfers, controller failure, liquid damage, overheating, wear-out, unsupported file systems, electrical damage, partition corruption, formatting in an unsupported device, overwritten data, bent/broken pins, manufacturing defects, and more.

Our Lab Process (Always Read-Only to Your Original)

1. Diagnostic & Triage – Identify card type, controller/NAND, symptoms, and encryption.

2. Stabilise & Image – Either controller-assisted imaging (when the card enumerates) or raw NAND extraction (chip-off/monolith pin-out) to a forensic clone.

3. Reconstruct – Rebuild FTL (ECC, XOR/scrambler, interleave, die/plane order), then repair file system(s) on the clone (never the original).

4. Verify & Deliver – Hash-verify recovered files, provide previews, and return via encrypted drive or secure transfer.

Top 50 Memory Card Recovery Faults — With Technical Resolution

Tools & techniques we use: PC-3000 Flash, Rusolut VNR, Flash Extractor, Soft-Center, hot-air/IR BGA rework, X-ray/IR inspection, ONFI/Toggle-mode readers, controlled thermal biasing, clean handling for exposed NAND.
File systems covered: exFAT, FAT32, NTFS, HFS+, APFS, ext2/3/4, XFS, Btrfs, camera RAW/video container structures.

A. Physical / Connector / Form-Factor

1. Cracked microSD substrate → Microscopic inspection; epoxy stabilisation; monolith pin-out mapping; breakout VBUS/GND/D0–D7/CLE/ALE/WE/RE/RB; raw dump.

2. Bent/broken SD pins → Re-pin or transplant connector; if internal track damage → monolith breakout and dump.

3. Damaged SD write-protect switch → Bypass WP sense line; stabilise enumeration; controller-path image.

4. Snapped SD shell → Transplant NAND/controller die to donor shell where possible, else monolith dump.

5. xD-Picture cracked corner → Reconstruct broken traces under microscope; direct NAND access for dump.

6. CF bent pins in host → Bypass host; image via UDMA reader; if controller damage → chip-off.

7. CFexpress/XQD socket wear → Use dedicated reader with fixed contact pressure; firmware logs; if no init → vendor-mode export or chip-off (where practicable).

8. MicroSD delamination → Low-temp re-lamination; if bond wires severed → decap + wire-out to reader.

9. Memory Stick PRO-HG fractured pad → Micro-wire repair; force low speed; image or raw dump.

10. SmartMedia oxidation → Gentle clean; if still signal-poor → chip-off to bypass corroded pads.

B. Electrical / Power Integrity

11. ESD event, no power-up → Replace TVS/ESD arrays; validate 3.3 V/1.8 V rails; if MCU draws abnormal current → raw NAND extraction.

12. Over-voltage (5 V applied to 3.3 V) → Replace protection/LDO; if controller latched → chip-off.

13. Host surge (dashcam/CCTV) → Current-limited bench supply; soft-start imaging; migrate to raw if unstable.

14. Shorted decoupling capacitor → Identify via thermal camera; replace; resume imaging.

15. Damaged pull-ups / line-term → Re-establish proper UHS signalling; throttle to legacy speed for stability.

C. Controller / Firmware / FTL

16. Controller burnout (Phison/SMI/Alcor/Realtek/ChipsBank/Maxio) → Chip-off NAND; rebuild FTL (BCH/LDPC ECC, XOR, interleave, channel order).

17. Firmware safe-mode/boot-loop → Access vendor loader via test pads; export raw; else chip-off.

18. Translator corruption (LBA↔PBA) → Recover sys-area metadata; synthesize translator from page timestamps + block types; build image.

19. Lost wear-levelling journal → Heuristic temporal merge; validate with FS signatures; iterate ECC thresholds.

20. Bad CS/CE muxing (multi-die) → Map die/channel topology with pattern probes; correct interleave; redump weak dies.

21. DRAM-based cache failure → Emulate cache tables (where supported) or proceed with chip-off + offline mapping.

22. Vendor XOR/scrambler unknown → Discover via dictionary search/cribs (FAT boot sectors, EXIF, JPEG headers); apply across planes.

23. Self-encryption on card/controller → Requires valid key/passcode; with keys: decrypt post-image; without keys: cryptographically infeasible (we’ll advise options).

D. NAND / Media Behaviour

24. Retention loss (long shelf, heat) → Cold dump, voltage-stepping, read-retry matrices; favour multiple passes with ECC margining.

25. Read-disturb on TLC/QLC → Lower read thresholds; interleave idle cycles; prioritise weakest blocks; refresh strategy per die.

26. Program/erase disturb → Discard marginal pages by ECC score; reconstruct from best-quality copies.

27. Bad-block proliferation → Map and mask failing blocks; fill holes using FS awareness & carving.

28. Partially dead die/plane → Single-plane reads, relaxed timing; merge partials; carve to complete files.

29. Toggle vs ONFI mis-detect → Force correct interface/timing in reader; re-acquire dumps.

30. Stuck bits / threshold shift → Multi-read at varied reference voltages; majority-vote decoding.

31. ECC area corruption → Use alternate ECC profiles; manual BCH/LDPC correction on targeted ranges.

32. SLC cache vs TLC area split → Identify cache regions; merge chronologically by FTL timestamps.

33. Over-provisioning/hidden LUNs → Include reserved ranges; reconstruct global address space before FS repair.

E. Logical / Partition / File System

34. Accidental deletion (exFAT/FAT32) → Journal-aware recovery; directory entry rebuild; carve unallocated/slack; restore names/timestamps where possible.

35. Quick/full format → Recreate partition + boot sectors; exploit MFT mirror (NTFS) or backup FAT; deep signature carve for large videos (MP4/MOV/MKV).

36. exFAT bitmap corruption → Repair on clone; traverse chains; recover orphaned clusters.

37. FAT root dir & FAT tables mismatch → Cross-check long filename entries; rebuild allocation chains.

38. HFS+/APFS on SD (Mac use) → APFS checkpoint/snapshots; reconstruct omap; mount read-only for export.

39. ext4 superblock/inode table damage → Use backup superblocks; offline fsck-like rebuild on image.

40. Camera DB corruption (Sony/Canon/Nikon) → Rebuild AVCHD/MP4/MXF container indices; salvage from contiguous extents.

41. Fragmented 4K/8K video on V30/V60 cards → Range-map reconstruction using allocation heuristics and embedded moov/mdat offsets.

42. RAW photo partials (CR3/NEF/ARW) → Header repair + tile/strip stitching; validate with maker notes.

43. Filesystem from unsupported host (dashcam/drones) → Emulate host allocation quirks; recover loop-recorded segments in time order.

44. Corrupt partition table (MBR/GPT) → Infer from FS signatures; build synthetic GPT; verify mount (RO).

F. Environmental / Handling / Workflow

45. Liquid ingress (fresh/salt) → Rinse/neutralise; dry under controlled conditions; avoid power-on; proceed to monolith dump.

46. Thermal damage/overheating → Controlled cooling; staged dumps with dwell periods; prioritise weak dies.

47. Shock/impact during write → Reconcile half-written metadata via journal; carve pre-impact data first.

48. Host removal mid-transfer → Log replay on exFAT/NTFS; recover intact pre-event content; carve interrupted files.

49. Malware/crypto-locker on removable media → Forensic image; neutralise; recover clean prior versions / unaffected files.

50. Wear-out (dashcam/CCTV endurance cards) → Identify high-cycle zones; use low-stress read profiles; assemble from best-quality copies per epoch.

Why Choose Norwich Data Recovery

• 25 years in business with thousands of successful memory-card recoveries

• Monolith & chip-off specialists (UHS-II, V90, CFexpress, industrial SLC)

• Advanced tooling & donor inventory to maximise success

• Free diagnostics and clear recovery options before any paid work

• Critical Service available (typically 48 hours, case-dependent)

Ready to Begin?

Contact Norwich Data Recovery today for your free diagnostic.
Our engineers are ready to help—whether it’s a snapped microSD, a corrupt exFAT card, or a CFexpress controller failure, we’ll get your data back safely and fast.