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SDR / Every kind of SSD / SAS SSDs

SAS 12Gb/s and 24Gb/s · dual-port · OEM firmware

SAS SSD data recovery. Server SSDs that were built never to be seen on their own.

SAS SSDs speak the SCSI command set over a dual-ported SAS connector, sit behind a RAID controller or an HBA, and often ship under an OEM label from HPE, Dell, Lenovo, Cisco or NetApp with firmware, and sometimes sector formats of 520 or 528 bytes, that differ from the maker's retail version. Samsung PM1643 and PM1653, Kioxia PM6 and PM7, Seagate Nytro and WD Ultrastar SS-series are the usual drives. They are nearly always recovered as part of the array they came from. Enterprise and SAN work starts at £1,250 + VAT; a smaller multi-drive server from £500 + VAT. The fixed figure is written down after the free look.

Free first lookOne fixed figure in writingNo data, no bill on most jobsReturn postage paid

Rather talk it through? An engineer answers the bench line
0800 6890668

SAS SSD and array symptoms, and what each means.

Not listed? Describe it on the form →
A member failed and the array is degradedRecoverable, if nothing is rebuilt first. Image the failed member in its diagnostic state.Do not delay
Two members down, the array offlineStill recoverable in most cases from the images. Stop and label.Do not delay
The controller shows a foreign configurationThe array's metadata is confused, not gone. Do not import or clear it.Do not delay
The drive is not seen on the backplaneController or firmware; the flash is protected.Everyday job
A 520-byte or 528-byte sector drive out of a NetApp or EMC shelfNormal; the format is handled on the image.Everyday job
Packing it and posting it: a bare SSD travels in an anti-static bag inside a small padded box, with nothing able to move. Insure it for what the files are worth rather than the price of the drive, and use a tracked service. The posting address is not printed anywhere on this site; it arrives by email in reply to the form, with a booking sheet to print; the sheet inside the parcel is what matches it to your enquiry when it is opened. Or hand the sealed parcel in at the nearest of ten drop-off points, your name on the outside and the sheet inside; say where you are on the form and it comes by email. We pay the postage home either way. The whole of it is written up on the guide to packing and posting.

Brand by brand, and what tends to go wrong.

Samsung PM1643, PM1643a, PM1653Samsung enterprise SAS with hardware encryption; recovery runs through the original controller.
Kioxia PM6 and PM7Dual-ported 24Gb/s SAS on BiCS flash, common in current HPE and Dell servers.
Seagate Nytro 3000-series and WD Ultrastar DC SS530/SS540Widely relabelled by storage OEMs; the part number tells us the firmware family.
HPE, Dell, Lenovo, Cisco and NetApp OEM partsVendor firmware, sometimes unusual sector sizes, always quoted as part of the array.

What the message actually means.

Describe yours to us →
What is going on The usual reason for it Where that leaves you
Degraded, one member amberOne drive stoppedImage it first; no rebuild
Offline, two members failedThe array has lost redundancyEvery member imaged; rebuilt in software
Foreign configuration foundController metadata out of stepDo not import or clear; send the set
A rebuild ran and the volume is corruptRebuild wrote over a stale memberImages and the controller's own metadata are used to undo what can be undone
Drive not seen by the HBAController or firmwareDiagnostic-state work

From the box arriving to your files going back.

Work we have closed →
01

Logged the day it lands, and the first look costs nothing Free

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.

Nothing to pay for lookingA single figure, put in writingNo TRIM, no writes
02

Powered on our terms

Each SAS drive is imaged on a SAS host of our own, in its diagnostic state where it has stopped responding, with the sector format preserved exactly as the array wrote it.

Vendor diagnostic modeNo hopeful reboots
03

Past the fault, to the map

From the images and the RAID controller's own configuration, the array is reassembled in software, the volumes and virtual disks mounted, and the file systems, databases and virtual machines checked before anything goes back.

Loader in RAM, never on the flashMapping tables put back together
04

A full image, then the volume

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.

One careful imageThe volume verified end to end
05

You see the file list before you pay

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.

No charge until you accept the figureFresh media, supplied with the jobQuoted with the figure

What arrives most often

  • Keep the controller. A RAID controller's configuration, and the contents of its cache if the battery has failed, can matter to the reassembly. Send it with the drives.
  • Do not import a foreign configuration to see what happens. It can commit the controller to the wrong view of the array.
  • OEM sector formats are normal. NetApp and EMC shelves use 520 or 528-byte sectors; the drives read fine on the bench and the format is handled on the image.
  • Label everything. Bay numbers, controller ports, the order the failures happened in. Every detail shortens the job.

One job, followed all the way through.

UK · SDR-2026-0328JOB LOGGED ✓

A twelve-drive SAS SSD RAID 6 with two members down and a rebuild that made it worse

A practice's server lost one PM1643, ran for a fortnight, lost a second, and a replacement was fitted and a rebuild started. The rebuild stopped at forty per cent and the volume went offline. Every drive came here labelled, both quiet members were imaged in their diagnostic state, and the set was reassembled from the images with the controller's metadata read out of the healthy members. The database and the file shares mounted whole.

100% of the volume mounted7 days here, and back by post
Illustrative example — replace with a genuine case

What helps, and what harms.

Do this much first

  • Label every bay before a drive comes out
  • Send the controller with the drives
  • Note the order the failures happened in
  • Tell us the storage system and the operating system on top

What sets us back

  • Rebuilding after a second failure
  • Importing or clearing a foreign configuration
  • Swapping drives between bays
  • Trying a SAS drive in a desktop PC

Questions answered before you commit.

Can I plug a SAS SSD into a PC?

No. It needs a SAS HBA or RAID controller. It is also nearly always one member of an array, so a single drive rarely holds anything usable on its own.

Do OEM firmwares matter?

Yes. They change how the drive presents itself and sometimes its sector format. Tell us the storage system the drives came from and we handle it on the image.

Should we try a rebuild first?

No. A rebuild writes across every member and is the single most common way a recoverable array becomes an unrecoverable one. Stop, label every slot, and send the form.

What does it cost?

A small server set starts at £500 + VAT and enterprise storage at £1,250 + VAT. One figure in writing after the free look.

Begin here if yours is doing the same thing.

U.2 and U.3 →SSD RAID and NAS →Samsung →Kioxia →Seagate →Western Digital →

Stop, label, and send the set.

Every member imaged before anything is put back together. The first look is free, and one figure for the whole set is written down before any chargeable work.

0800 6890668

Price my jobPacking and posting