Intel 320 to 670p · Optane · Solidigm P41 Plus and P44 Pro
Intel sold its NAND and SSD business to SK hynix, which runs it as Solidigm, and wound down its Optane line in 2022. Intel drives are still everywhere, from the 320 with its documented 8MB failure to the QLC 660p and 670p in countless desktops. The 320 is the one people remember: after an unexpected power loss the drive reported 8MB and a serial number of BAD_CTX, and nothing on it could be reached until the bench put the firmware right. Intel's own controllers, SandForce on the 520 and 530, and Silicon Motion on the 600p and 660p each need their own route in. One Intel or Solidigm SSD is £300 + VAT after the free look, fixed in writing, 3–5 days at the bench. Optane is quoted separately, and honestly.
Rather talk it through? An engineer answers the bench line
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| Family | Models | Controller commonly reported |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer SATA | 320, 330, 335, 520, 525 (mSATA), 530, 535, 540s, 545s, 600p (M.2) | Intel (320) · SandForce SF-2281 (520, 530) · Silicon Motion (540s, 545s, 600p) |
| Consumer NVMe | 600p, 660p, 665p, 670p, 750 (AIC and U.2), 760p, 7600p | Silicon Motion SM2262 and SM2263 (660p, 670p) · Intel (750) |
| Optane | 800P, 900P, 905P, H10, H20, P4800X, P5800X, DC P4801X | Intel, on 3D XPoint media |
| Solidigm | P41 Plus, P44 Pro, D5-P5316, D5-P5336, D7-P5520, D7-P5620 | Silicon Motion (P41 Plus) · SK hynix Aries (P44 Pro) · Solidigm enterprise |
| Enterprise legacy | DC S3500, S3510, S3700, S4500, S4600, P3700, P4510 | Intel |
| What you see | The usual reason | Where that leaves you |
|---|---|---|
| 8MB, serial BAD_CTX (Intel 320) | The documented firmware fault after power loss | Firmware-level recovery; the flash is intact |
| An Optane drive that has stopped | 3D XPoint, little tool support | Assessed honestly at the free look |
| A 660p or 670p at 0GB or with an SM name | Silicon Motion in ROM mode | Bench work; do not initialise |
| Not in the BIOS, or at the wrong size | Firmware or controller fault with the flash intact | Recovered through the original controller |
| Read-only | Firmware protecting worn flash, or a documented firmware fault | Usually fully readable |
| Health falling fast in the maker's tool | Real wear, or a reporting fault | Back up now; a warning, not yet a recovery |
| Dead after a firmware update | The write stopped half-way | Loader in RAM; map from the service area |
A case number goes on it the day the parcel is opened, and an engineer settles what has actually failed before anything else happens. The drive is read on our own equipment, never in a computer that might send it a TRIM command. Back to you come two things together: a straight note of what is liftable and what is not, plus one figure, fixed and written down. Accept it, or decline and owe us nothing.
Every power-on gives a failing SSD another chance to run its own housekeeping. Here the drive is brought up in the controller's diagnostic state instead, which lets the bench speak to the flash directly and keeps damaged firmware out of the conversation.
Working code is loaded into the controller's memory rather than onto the flash, the service area is read, and the translation table is rebuilt from what is there. Where the controller itself is dead, the chips are read one by one and the controller's scrambling and error correction are undone in software.
Nothing is worked on live. The whole drive is imaged once, weak pages retried in their own passes, and the file system is put back together on the image. Encrypted volumes are unlocked there too, with the key you supply, and never on the original.
What was recovered is listed for you first, and only then does a bill exist. Approve the list and it is invoiced; turn it down and it is not — and where nothing has come back, most jobs carry no charge at all. Recovered data travels home on fresh media bought in for your job, with the postage at our end. Your case is not closed until you have opened the files on a machine of your own.
A joinery's estimating PC, ten years old, on an Intel 320 that had never missed a day until the power went. The BIOS listed 8MB and a serial number of BAD_CTX. Nothing had been run against it. The firmware was put right in the controller's memory on the bench, the map read back intact, and the drive imaged whole. Every quote and every drawing came back.
Illustrative example — replace with a genuine caseNo. That is the documented firmware fault after power loss. The data is still on the flash, and it is recovered at firmware level. Do not run the update on it now.
Case by case. 3D XPoint has little third-party tool support and the line is discontinued. We assess honestly at the free look and only take on what we can finish.
Solidigm is SK hynix's subsidiary, formed from Intel's NAND and SSD business. The newer drives are Solidigm designs on Silicon Motion and SK hynix controllers.
£300 + VAT for one drive after the free look, fixed in writing.
3–5 days at the bench after the free look.
Looking at it is free. Back comes a list of what opened and what did not, together with a single price to finish, set down in writing while you are still free to say no. On most jobs an invoice only follows the data. Until that list reaches you, leave the drive switched off.