SDR / Whatever it is doing now / Not detected in BIOS

No light, no drive letter, nothing in the BIOS

The SSD is not detected. Nothing to listen for, nothing on the list, and nearly always something still on the flash.

When an SSD vanishes completely, the controller has not finished starting up. That can be because its firmware cannot be read from the flash, because a power component on the board has failed, or, least often, because the controller itself has died. The flash is usually untouched. The worst thing you can do now is keep power-cycling it, because each attempt is another chance for the fallback code to write over the service area we need. One drive is £300 + VAT after the free look, fixed in writing, 3–5 days at the bench, and on most jobs no data means no bill.

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

Why a drive vanishes, and why the data usually has not.

An SSD's controller boots like a small computer. It reads its firmware from a reserved service area on the flash, loads the translation table that maps every address to a physical page, and only then announces itself to the computer. If the firmware will not load, most controllers stop right there and stay silent, which is what the BIOS reports as no drive at all. Some fall back to a ROM mode and appear under a factory name or at a tiny capacity; those are the SATAFIRM S11 and 0GB pages. Silence is the same fault one step earlier.

The second cause is power. An SSD has its own small power stage, regulators that turn the 3.3V or 5V from the connector into what the controller and flash need. A failed regulator, a shorted capacitor after a surge, or a cracked component after a knock leaves the drive dead to the world with its flash entirely intact. Those are repaired at the board.

The third, and least common, is a controller that has physically failed. Then the flash is read directly and the controller's scrambling, error correction and interleaving are undone in software, unless the drive encrypts in hardware, in which case the original controller has to be revived. Samsung, WD, SK hynix and Apple drives are the usual hardware-encrypted ones, and we say at the free look which route yours needs.

What you see, and what it means.

Describe yours to us →

What you see	The usual reason	Where that leaves you
No bootable device, and nothing in the BIOS	Controller not starting; firmware unreadable	Diagnostic-state work; the flash is usually intact
Missing from Disk Management or Disk Utility, present in the BIOS	The drive starts but presents nothing usable	Often a map fault; do not initialise
No light on a portable, no sound of connection	Bridge or power stage	Board work; the SSD behind it is usually fine
Seen in one machine, not another	Slot keying, bifurcation or a marginal power stage	Compatibility or a fault in the making; send it
Detected only at boot, then gone	Controller crashing after start-up	Stop; image in the diagnostic state

From the box arriving to your files going back.

Work we have closed →

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

Powered on our terms

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.

Vendor diagnostic modeNo hopeful reboots

Past the fault, to the map

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.

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

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

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 job3–5 days at the bench

From the bench

Software cannot see what the BIOS cannot see. Every recovery program works through the operating system, and the operating system has nothing to show it. Skip that step.
One try in another slot, briefly, is fine. Ten tries are not. If the BIOS does not list it the second time, stop.
A dead power stage is the good news. Board repair is quick, and the drive underneath has usually not been touched by the fault at all.
Hardware-encrypted drives are recovered through their own controller. Chip-off gives ciphertext on a Samsung or a WD. The controller is revived instead, which is usually possible.

One job, followed all the way through.

UK · SDR-2026-0412JOB LOGGED ✓

A Crucial P5 Plus from a desktop, gone from the BIOS after a storm

A power cut during a summer storm, and the next morning no drive. On the bench a regulator on the stick had failed short; replaced, the controller came up, but its firmware would not load. In the diagnostic state a loader went into RAM, the service area read back with one module damaged, and the map was rebuilt. A small business's accounts and six years of email came off complete.

100% of it recovered4 days here, and back by post

Illustrative example — replace with a genuine case

What helps, and what harms.

Do this much first

Power it off and leave it off
Try one other slot or cable, once
Note the model and part number
Tell us whether it was encrypted

What sets us back

Power-cycling it hoping it appears
Putting it in a USB enclosure to test
Running recovery software on the machine it was in
Sending it to a shop for a firmware flash

Questions answered before you commit.

Is my data gone?

Rarely. A drive that is not detected almost always has intact flash behind a controller that has not started. The free look tells you what is there.

Will a different cable or slot help?

For a SATA drive, try one other cable and port, once. For an M.2 drive, one other slot that supports its type. If it is still missing, stop.

Can I try software?

No. Software can only see what the operating system sees, and the operating system sees nothing. Time spent on scans is time the drive spends powered.

What does it cost?

£300 + VAT for one drive after the free look, fixed in writing before any chargeable work.

How long does it take?

3–5 days at the bench after the free look.

Where this usually leads.

Shows 0GB or the wrong size →SATAFIRM S11 →After an update or a surge →NVMe M.2 →SATA 2.5-inch →

Nothing gets worse while the power is off.

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. Until that list reaches you, leave the drive switched off.

0800 6890668

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