Taking work now — the first look is freeSSDs posted in from anywhere in the UK, or handed in at ten drop-off pointsQuicker still, give us a ring:0800 6890668
SDRSSD Data Recovery 0800 6890668 Price my job
SDR / Every kind of SSD / Soldered to the board

On the logic board · Apple T2 · Apple silicon · Surface

SSDs soldered to the board. Where the key lives in the processor, the board has to live too.

More and more laptops have no removable drive: the flash is soldered to the logic board beside the controller. On Apple's T2 Macs (the Intel models of 2018 to 2020) and on every Apple silicon Mac, the storage is encrypted all the time, in hardware, with keys held in the Secure Enclave. Unsoldering the flash and reading it gives ciphertext and nothing else. Recovery therefore means getting the original board, or at least its processor, its flash and the chips that pair them, working well enough to unlock. That can be done where the fault is power delivery or a failed component. It cannot be done where the Secure Enclave itself is destroyed, or where the Mac has been erased or the board replaced. We say which at the free look, and we do not take on jobs we cannot finish. Where recovery is possible it is priced as one drive, £300 + VAT, fixed in writing, with any board work that moves the figure explained before you agree.

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

What the machine is doing, and what it means for the data.

Not listed? Describe it on the form →
The Mac will not turn on at allUsually power delivery. The board has to be revived to unlock the flash; often it can be.Do not delay
It turns on, but stops at a question mark or a padlockThe storage is not being found or not unlocking. Do not restore it in Recovery.Do not delay
Liquid went inCorrosion continues after the machine looks dry. Do not power it. Send it as it is.Do not delay
The Surface or laptop is dead, and the drive is a removable 2230Ordinary NVMe work. The drive comes out; send the drive.Everyday job
It was erased, restored, or the board was replacedThe keys went with it. We will say so plainly, and not take the job.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.

Machine by machine, and what is possible.

Apple 2010–2017 blade SSDsRemovable modules made for Apple by Samsung, SanDisk and Toshiba, on a proprietary connector. Ordinary SSD work: the module comes out and is read on its own.
T2 Macs, 2018–2020MacBook Pro and Air, Mac mini 2018, iMac Pro, iMac 2020. Always-on encryption with the key in the T2. The board must work; there is no chip-off route.
Apple silicon, M1 onwardsAs T2, more tightly integrated, and with fewer paths in. Possible where the board can be brought up; impossible where it cannot.
Microsoft Surface and thin Windows laptopsMost Surface models since the Pro 7+ and Laptop 3 carry a removable M.2 2230 drive. Earlier ones, and many thin Windows laptops, are soldered; those are usually recoverable once the board is powered, and then BitLocker's recovery key is needed.

What Apple, or the shop, said, and what it actually means.

Describe yours to us →
What is going on The usual reason for it Where that leaves you
Apple says the data is unrecoverableTrue once the board has been replaced or the machine erased. Not necessarily true beforeAsk us before anyone swaps the board
The shop says they can transfer the SSD to another boardOn T2 and Apple silicon Macs the flash is paired to the processor; it cannot be movedBoard repair on the original, or nothing
A flashing folder with a question markThe Mac cannot find a bootable volumeDo not reinstall; the volume may be intact
A padlock and a password fieldFileVault or the activation lockYour password is needed; find it
The Surface shows a BitLocker recovery screenDevice encryption was on, as it is by defaultThe 48-digit key from the Microsoft account unlocks it

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

A soldered machine is not powered up to see what happens. It goes on the bench for a board-level inspection first — power rails, the chips that manage them, any corrosion — because the aim is to bring the original board to the point where it can unlock its own storage, and each uncontrolled power-on works against that.

Vendor diagnostic modeNo hopeful reboots
03

Past the fault, to the map

With the board repaired to the point of running, the storage unlocks with your password or recovery key and is imaged in full from the running machine. Where a Windows laptop's flash is soldered but not paired to the processor, it can also be read directly from the chips and the file system rebuilt from the dump, with BitLocker unlocked on the image afterwards.

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

  • A board swap takes the data with it. On T2 and Apple silicon Macs the storage key is bound to the processor and its Secure Enclave. A repair shop that fits a new board has, without meaning to, made the old data unrecoverable. Ask us first.
  • Your password is part of the recovery. FileVault, the Mac login password and BitLocker's 48-digit key are all needed at the point of unlocking. We never attempt to break encryption and do not accept a device that is not yours to open.
  • Liquid damage keeps working after the machine is dry. Corrosion continues at the board for weeks. The sooner it is on a bench being cleaned and assessed, the better the chance the board can be revived.
  • Not every soldered drive is paired to the processor. Many Windows laptops with soldered flash can be read chip by chip and rebuilt. Apple's machines since 2018 cannot. We tell you which yours is at the free look.

Two things we will always say plainly: whether the data can be reached at all, and what it will cost to try. If the honest answer is that the Secure Enclave is gone and the data with it, you hear that at the free look and pay nothing.

One job, followed all the way through.

UK · SDR-2026-0371JOB LOGGED ✓

A 2019 MacBook Pro after a glass of water, with a thesis on it

The machine had been dried on a radiator, which did not help, and powered on twice, which helped less. On the bench the board showed corrosion around a power-management chip and a dead rail. The chip was replaced, the rail came up, and the machine reached the point where FileVault asked for a password. With the owner's password entered, the volume unlocked and was imaged whole. The thesis was two chapters further on than the last backup.

100% of the volume imaged5 days here, and back by post
Illustrative example — replace with a genuine case

What helps, and what harms.

Do this much first

  • Stop powering it on and leave it off
  • Find your FileVault or BitLocker credentials before posting
  • Send the whole machine, with its charger only if we ask
  • Tell us if a shop has already opened it

What sets us back

  • Letting anyone replace the logic board
  • Reinstalling macOS or Windows from Recovery
  • Drying it with heat
  • Restoring from a backup that is missing what you need

Questions answered before you commit.

Can you take the SSD out of my MacBook Pro 2019?

No. On a T2 Mac the flash is soldered to the logic board and paired to the T2 chip. It cannot be moved to another board. Recovery means reviving the original board to the point where it unlocks its own storage.

Apple said the data is gone. Is it?

If they replaced the board, or erased the machine, yes. If the old board still exists, possibly not. Ask for the old board back and send it to us before anything else is done to it.

I have my FileVault password. Does that help?

Yes, and it may be essential. The storage unlocks with your password once the board is running. Without it, even a working board gives ciphertext.

Should I let Apple or a shop repair it first?

Not if you need the data. A board swap takes the data with it. Get the data off first; then have the machine repaired however you like.

What about my Surface?

Most newer Surface models have a removable M.2 2230 drive, which is ordinary NVMe work at £300 + VAT. Older soldered Surfaces are board work. Either way, BitLocker's recovery key from your Microsoft account will be needed.

Begin here if yours is doing the same thing.

Apple →Microsoft Surface and OEM drives →Encrypted and locked →Water or heat damage →The laptop is dead →

Before anyone replaces the board, ask us.

A board swap is the one repair that ends the recovery. Send the form, tell us the model and the year, and we will say honestly whether the data can come off it first, and what that would cost.

0800 6890668

Price my jobPacking and posting