Encryption and data recovery
Encryption protects your data from us as well. That is not a shortcoming but the whole point. For a data recovery it means: we repair the hardware, you bring the key.
Two questions that have to be kept apart
With an encrypted storage device two things are always broken or out of reach at the same time: the hardware and the access. A data recovery can only solve the first.
If the electronics are faulty, they can be repaired. If the memory is damaged, it may be possible to read it out. But if the key is missing, none of that helps — at the end there is a complete, technically flawless copy that nobody can read.
Hence a request in advance
BitLocker (Windows)
BitLocker encrypts the entire drive. The key is tied to the login account, to the security chip of the computer, or to a 48-digit recovery key which is displayed during setup and frequently stored automatically in the Microsoft account.
For a recovery that means: with the recovery key the case is as good as any unencrypted one. Without it, it is not. The key can be looked up in the Microsoft account, often also in a company IT department’s management console — both are worth a try before giving up.
One detail that is often overlooked: if the drive is damaged and BitLocker stumbles while reading its administrative data, having the key does not help. That is why here, too, an image is created first and decryption is then attempted on that copy.
FileVault and Apple devices
On Macs with Apple Silicon or a T2 chip the memory is soldered firmly to the mainboard and encryption is always active — even without FileVault switched on. The key is generated in a security component on exactly that board and does not leave it.
This blocks the usual route: desoldering memory chips and reading them out externally yields nothing but ciphertext. Instead the route runs via repairing the board until the computer starts again and decrypts by itself.
And something else that is important: if the mainboard is replaced during a repair, the key is gone. The new security component has a different one. So if important data is on a faulty Mac, data recovery belongs before the repair — not after it.
Smartphones
Current iPhones and Android devices encrypt by default, and the lock code feeds into the key derivation. It cannot be bypassed: the number of attempts is limited in hardware, so systematically trying them all is not an option. No code, no access — not even with a fully functional device.
Android also encrypts every file individually. When a file is deleted, its key is destroyed. A factory reset destroys the key material altogether. Neither can be undone, no matter how intact the memory is.
What very much is possible: getting a device that no longer starts after water or a drop working again at board level — and then you enter the code and the device decrypts by itself.
Self-encrypting SSDs and external enclosures
Encryption in the controller
Many SSDs encrypt everything they store, regardless of the user’s settings. The key stays inside the controller. If it fails, reading out the memory chips is of no use — the original controller has to work again.
External hard drives with encryption in the enclosure
With some external drives the encryption sits in the bridge board of the enclosure. Anyone who removes the drive and connects it directly sees nothing but garbage. So please always send the enclosure along.
Drive password
A password set at drive level is something different from encryption of the contents — it is an access lock in the firmware. How to deal with it is shown by the diagnosis.
Where we can help when the password is missing
For cases in which a password has been forgotten and there is a lawful claim to access, we work with Passware. That is not a circumvention of the encryption but a structured search for the password — using everything you still remember: fragments, patterns, older variants. Whether that is promising in a particular case depends entirely on how much is known.
Answered briefly.
Can you open my encrypted hard drive without the key?
No. Modern encryption cannot be broken without the key — that is its purpose. What we can do: repair the hardware and create an image, so that decryption becomes possible as soon as the key is available.
My Mac no longer starts. Can I remove the SSD and read it elsewhere?
Not on models with a T2 chip or Apple Silicon — the memory is soldered and the key is inside the board. The route runs via repairing it.
I no longer know my phone’s lock code. Is anything still possible?
Not on current devices. The code feeds into the key derivation and the number of attempts is limited in hardware. On older devices it depends on the model and the software version — the diagnosis clarifies that.
What happens to my data during processing?
It is held exclusively on our encrypted server, is not passed on, and is deleted completely once you confirm receipt. Nothing is outsourced.
We will take a look at your storage device.
The Economy diagnosis is free of charge. You find out what is possible before anything costs money — and what it would cost is put in writing beforehand.
Wasserweg 8–10 · 60594 Frankfurt am Main