Memory card data recovery We get it back.
Photos and videos often carry irreplaceable memories. When a memory card fails, we recover the data — with technology far beyond standard software.
- In-house clean room
- Never outsourced
- Our lab
- Transparent & fair
Memory card
Whether logical or physical — in most cases the memory is still intact. The diagnosis shows what exactly is wrong.
Deleted or formatted
The data is usually still on the memory chip — only the reference to it is gone.
Controller defect
The card is not recognised. We read the memory directly.
Drop & breakage
Broken card, bent contacts, cracked housing — handled under the microscope.
Water & contacts
Corroded contacts after moisture — cleaned and reconstructed.
From symptom to cause.
Nobody searches for a fault pattern. You hear a noise or read a message — and the most pressing question is: may I switch the device on one more time?
Symptom
“The drive needs to be formatted”
Likely cause
The administrative structure is damaged. The photos and videos themselves are almost always still there in full.
What to do now
Decline and remove the card. Formatting lays a new directory over the old one.
Symptom
Shows a few megabytes instead of the full size
Likely cause
The controller no longer recognises the memory chip and falls back on a default value. Typical after mechanical stress in a card reader.
What to do now
Do not format. The memory is usually intact.
Symptom
Not recognised at all
Likely cause
An interrupted trace, a cracked solder joint or a faulty controller.
What to do now
Do not try further readers — poorly regulated adapters can make the condition worse.
Symptom
Recording stopped mid-video
Likely cause
If power is lost during recording, the video file’s index is never written. The image data is there, the frame around it is missing.
What to do now
Put the card aside and do not write to it further. Such files can be reconstructed.
Symptom
Card gets warm, works sometimes and then not
Likely cause
An intermittent contact fault or the beginning of memory failure.
What to do now
Do not keep using it. Dropouts are the stage before complete failure.
Symptom
Photos deleted or card formatted, the card works
Likely cause
A logical fault. On memory cards the data is usually still there in full — unlike on SSDs.
What to do now
Do not record anything else from now on. Every new recording can overwrite exactly the areas at stake.
Microsoldering & CT scanner
For highly integrated, miniaturised cards we use high-resolution microscopes, microsoldering, lasers and CT scanners — to reach the memory without destroying it.
Equipment we use
In Frankfurt. Never outsourced.
Why this takes so much effort.
No jargon for its own sake — the reasons from which price, duration and prospects of success follow.
Monoliths: no chip to desolder
In microSD cards, controller and memory sit in a single potted package. There is nothing that could be removed. Access has to be established instead via exposed contact points inside — the card is ground down in a controlled way until the internal lines are reachable, then contacted with fine needles. Which point is which line is written down nowhere; it has to be worked out for each design. That is why such cases take longer than anything else.
Chip-off on cards with a board
Classic SD and CF cards have controller and memory separate on a small board. If the electronics are destroyed, the memory chip can be desoldered and read externally. The raw content is then not yet a file, though — it first has to be put back into the right order.
Why a raw image initially looks like noise
Flash memory does not store data the way it arrives. The controller scrambles it according to its own pattern so that neighbouring cells do not influence each other, and adds checking information with which individual flipped bits are corrected. When reading directly, exactly that controller is missing — scrambling and error correction have to be reproduced externally. Only then does a readable file system emerge from the raw image.
Several memory chips in one card
High-capacity cards spread the data alternately across several chips. Reading produces several partial images that have to be assembled in the correct interleave. If the order is wrong the result is completely unusable — and in a way that at first looks like faulty memory.
Photography: why the results are often good here
Camera cards are written large and in one go. Raw images and videos therefore sit contiguously rather than in fragments spread across the card. Even when the administrative structure is lost, the files can often be carved out completely by their characteristic opening bytes — names and folders are then missing, however.
Dashcams and drones as special cases
Dashcams write around the clock in a loop and use up the supply of spare cells considerably faster than a camera does. With drones and action cameras the recording often ends abruptly, which means the video file’s index is never written. Both are known patterns for which there are dedicated routes.
Before you do anything.
Bring the medium in or send it to us. The Economy diagnosis is free — you find out what is possible before anything costs money.
Take the medium out of service immediately — every further use can accelerate the loss.
No recovery attempts with tools from the internet.
Do not open the device or medium yourself.
Take it to a reliable data recovery specialist — analysis first, then a quote.
The mistakes that make it expensive.
Almost every well-meant reflex makes the damage worse. That is why you find not only the rule here but also the reason — nobody follows an instruction without one.
Never confirm the prompt to format.
It only means the table of contents is unreadable. Whoever confirms creates a new one — over the old one.
Do not keep recording after the loss.
Every new recording can overwrite exactly the areas where the lost images sit.
Do not work through several card readers.
Cheap readers do not keep the supply voltage clean. In the worst case that silences a controller that was already struggling, for good.
Do not remove the card while it is writing.
If the process is interrupted mid-update of the administration, exactly the structure from which everything else is derived is damaged.
Do not run the operating system’s repair function.
It writes to the card — preferentially into the areas needed for a reconstruction.
Fixed prices by fault pattern.
All prices are plus the diagnostic tariff you choose. Before every recovery you receive a written quote.
Logical error
299 €
Deleted data or a formatted card.
Physical damage
499 €
up to 960 GB / 1 TB
Not recognised, controller defect, broken contacts, water damage.
Total damage
individual
Breakage, fire or water damage, previous third-party intervention or irreparable electronics defects.
Our diagnostic tariffs.
You set the pace. Shipping both ways is included in every tariff — from Standard upwards we collect from you. And you always get a written quote before we start the recovery.
Economy
0 €
free diagnosis
- Diagnosis
- approx. 5 working days
- After approval
- Regular queue
- Updates
- By email
Written quote · free shipping both ways
Standard
99 €
incl. VAT · per medium
- Diagnosis
- within 2 working days
- After approval
- Scheduled with priority
- Updates
- Email and phone call
Written quote · free collection and return
Emergency
249 €
incl. VAT · per medium
- Diagnosis
- next working day
- After approval
- Moved to the front
- Updates
- Named contact
Written quote · express collection and return. Arrives before 12 noon: diagnosis the same working day.
The Economy diagnosis is free of charge. With Standard and Emergency the diagnostic fee applies even if you decline the quote — it is not offset against a later recovery. Either way, you decide freely after the quote whether we continue.
Four steps to your data.
- 01
Send it in or drop it off
Order online or hand it in without an appointment in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen.
- 02
Diagnosis
We examine the medium and send you a written quote.
- 03
Approval & recovery
We only begin the recovery once you have approved it.
- 04
Your data back
On a storage medium in the parcel or via an encrypted cloud download.
Where even we reach a limit
Memory cards are surprisingly robust where the content is concerned — but they are tiny, and some damage is simply final.
Destroyed memory area
If the chip itself is cracked or burnt, there is nothing left that could be read.
Overwritten
If recording continued after the loss, the affected areas have been replaced for good.
Already formatted and written to again
Formatting alone is usually harmless. Formatting plus subsequent use is not.
Fragmented files without administration
If the structure is lost and the files were spread across the card in pieces, they cannot always be reassembled completely.
Answered briefly.
What does data recovery cost?
We work with transparent fixed prices based on the fault pattern — depending on the medium from €99, €299 or €499; in cases of total damage individually. Before every recovery you receive a written quote and decide freely whether we continue.
Do I pay even if no data is recovered?
The Economy diagnosis is free — if you decline afterwards, no costs arise. With Standard and Emergency the diagnostic fee (€99 or €249) applies even if you decline; it is not offset against a later recovery. The recovery itself is only charged after your approval.
How long does it take?
Depending on the tariff, the diagnosis takes about 5 working days (Economy), 2 working days (Standard) or one working day (Emergency) — with Emergency, the same working day if the medium arrives before 12 noon. How long the recovery itself takes depends on the fault pattern and is stated in the quote.
Is my data safe with you?
Yes. We work in line with the GDPR, pass nothing on to third parties and never outsource. Your data is stored exclusively on our encrypted server and completely deleted after handover.
Can I send the medium in?
Yes. Shipping both ways is included in every diagnosis tariff; with Standard and Emergency we collect the medium from you. Or you come to our lab in Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen without an appointment.
My camera says the card is damaged. Can I let the camera repair it?
No. A camera’s repair function usually lays down a new administrative structure — and overwrites exactly what the recordings could have been reconstructed from. Take the card out and put it aside.
Will I get my file names back?
If the administrative structure can be reconstructed: yes, together with folders and dates. If we have to search via the contents, they are numbered files — the image content is the same.
Is a microSD harder than a full-size SD card?
As a rule yes. In microSD, controller and memory sit in a single potted package; there is nothing to desolder. Access has to be established via exposed contact points, and that takes longer.
My video breaks off in the middle and will not open.
A classic picture after power loss during recording: the image data is there, but the file’s index was never written. Such files can be reassembled from the raw stream.
Data Recovery Professionals
A worldwide group of independent, owner-run data recovery companies. Members share methods from professional data recovery, forensics and software development — so on rare damage patterns the knowledge of the whole group stands behind your medium.
Every hour counts. Let us talk.
Bring the medium in or send it to us. The Economy diagnosis is free of charge.
Wasserweg 8–10 · 60594 Frankfurt am Main