[SOLVED] HELP! I think I just accidentally stabbed my SSD with a screwdriver and broke it!

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Hardware community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

ThatSourMelon

Commendable
Apr 21, 2019
363
12
1,715
Long story short, I had to uninstall my gpu, after reinstalling it my motherboard didn’t read my ram, I haven’t touched any other part of the computer but after reinstalling the ram it worked fine… or that’s what I thought.

I have two M.2’s for storage. They are roughly the same speed, but I use the slightly faster one as my boot drive, and the other to store personal files and projects I’m working on, that’s one that stopped showing up in windows. I booted into the BIOS ja sits not reading.

I have an RTX 3080, and I also have a choncky cpu cooler, so the pci switch to “unhitch” my gpu is pretty much impossible to reach with my hands, so I used a screwdriver to try and push it. I slipped a couple times, but it didn’t sound too bad, and it was the only way I knew how to do it. It worked btw, but now I’m really thinking “what if it slipped and hit the M.2?” The M.2 is right next to the pci slot, so I looked and I think I chipped some of the plastic off? How does it look to you: (edit View: https://imgur.com/a/rE4sUFa
)https://imgur.com/a/6ZOvejC
You see on the bottom right of the drive where it connects to the motherboard and that plastic looks a bit chipped off? Idk how it’s supposed to look, and it looks a bit different from the top.

I want to avoid uninstalling and reinstalling it if possible because again, my gpu and cpu cooler are huge and I’d need to uninstall both to reach it, and seeing how this is going that will likely cause more problems… like I said, I have personal files and projects on there that I have spent hundreds of hours on, I can’t lose them! Here’s my full parts list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/qhTkp2
 
Last edited:
Solution
I swapped the drives, it still doesn’t work. This is it, this is where I die. The data is unrecoverable?
This would have been needed to do before....

ThatSourMelon

Commendable
Apr 21, 2019
363
12
1,715
I mentioned you need backup space.
A $140 8TB external drive would meet that need.

But...no change, still not working?
You killed it. Visible damage or no.
Wha-
What do you mean I killed it? I haven’t touched it and it just stops… is there anything else I can do? Anything I can recover? Can I try the other SSD slot? Anything? I just can’t lose these files… I was maybe a month away from being able to buy more storage, now…
This hurts.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
I swapped the drives, it still doesn’t work. This is it, this is where I die. The data is unrecoverable?
This would have been needed to do before....
 
Solution

ThatSourMelon

Commendable
Apr 21, 2019
363
12
1,715
This would have been needed to do before....
This would’ve required a lot of storage. Like I said I was about to get more, which I was most likely going to use for backup since the stuff on that drive was a lot and I wouldn’t have been able to take the hit, or at least it would be very difficult for me, but it was too late. This is my life now I guess.
 

ThatSourMelon

Commendable
Apr 21, 2019
363
12
1,715
I would try USB 3.0 - NVMe adapter before trashing it. Data is most likely recoverable by reading the memory IC directly, but I doubt anyone will do it for free...
I guess those are like $20, how much of a chance would I get if it working?

How much would it take to hire someone for the memory IC (or whatever it’s called), or at least a fair price?
Thanks for the suggestions…
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
This would’ve required a lot of storage. Like I said I was about to get more, which I was most likely going to use for backup since the stuff on that drive was a lot and I wouldn’t have been able to take the hit, or at least it would be very difficult for me, but it was too late. This is my life now I guess.
As mentioned above, try a USB -NVMe adapter.

But based on it not working in the other M.2 port, outlook looks grim.

Backups are like car insurance.
Required, and you cannot buy it after the BadThing happens.
 

ThatSourMelon

Commendable
Apr 21, 2019
363
12
1,715
What data was on this drive?
Annoying to lose, or life changing to lose?
Very annoying, but I guess not too life changing. A few games, which since I have super slow internet it’ll take a few days to redownload after I get another drive and make the rest of my internet unusable. Some video projects which probably took 50+ hours to make, a couple online legal documents which will probably be a bit annoying to get again, some school stuff which I was literally just about to back up when I noticed the drive was gone. On top of that it’s a $100 drive…

Thanks for your help, sorry if I haven’t said that, I’m in just a weird mental state rn.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
Very annoying, but I guess not life changing. A few games, which since I have super slow internet it’ll take a few days to redo load after I get another drive and make the rest of my internet unusable. Some video projects which probably took 50+ hours to make, a couple online legal documents which will probably be a bit annoying to get again, some school stuff which I was literally just about to back up when I noticed the drive was gone. On top of that it’s a $100 drive…

Thanks for your help, sorry if I haven’t said that, I’m in just a weird mental state rn.
So, just 'annoying'.

I could easily see a data recovery company charging well into 4 figures to do this, if it is possible at all.
The cost of the physical drive is irrelevant. You broke it.

For future reference, a single $140 external HDD could have kept that data safe.
Any data should never be at the mercy of a single physical drive.
 

ThatSourMelon

Commendable
Apr 21, 2019
363
12
1,715
So, just 'annoying'.

I could easily see a data recovery company charging well into 4 figures to do this, if it is possible at all.
The cost of the physical drive is irrelevant. You broke it.

For future reference, a single $140 external HDD could have kept that data safe.
Any data should never be at the mercy of a single physical drive.
It was my fault. I just… your right. 4 figures is a lot, I guess it’s gone. It is annoying, but I guess I’ll live. I thought this was going to be life-altering, but the more I think about what files were actually on it and what files I had on my main drive, it could’ve been worse. That time can be made up, I guess… even though it does hurt. At least I didn’t break my gpu, I definitely don’t want to do another dance for it and spend 4 figures anyway…

I just didn’t think that a screwdriver that I had barely any force on, didn’t leave a mark, and probably didn’t even hit the drive would kill the whole thing. But hey, life is… life.
 
How much would it take to hire someone for the memory IC (or whatever it’s called), or at least a fair price?
Thanks for the suggestions…
If I had to do it for myself, and the data would be worth the hassle, I would buy another one of those and just swap controller or memory ICs so it gets detected, then read raw data, then run any recovery tool to scan the outcome... (all there is - the memory chips, controller, and periphery)... might take a few hours of skilled labor. Data recovery companies charge money because they know where and how to poke it, not for the poking itself.
 

ThatSourMelon

Commendable
Apr 21, 2019
363
12
1,715
If I had to do it for myself, and the data would be worth the hassle, I would buy another one of those and just swap controller or memory ICs so it gets detected, then read raw data, then run any recovery tool to scan the outcome... (all there is - the memory chips, controller, and periphery)... might take a few hours of skilled labor. Data recovery companies charge money because they know where and how to poke it, not for the poking itself.
Thanks, but… after just reinstalling my graphics card my motherboard had some trouble, then I had to reinstall my ram to get it to post, now my drive is just… gone… I don’t really trust myself. If there’s a chance it could go wrong, I don’t want to take it anymore and be gone another $100.
 

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
If I had to do it for myself, and the data would be worth the hassle, I would buy another one of those and just swap controller or memory ICs so it gets detected, then read raw data, then run any recovery tool to scan the outcome... (all there is - the memory chips, controller, and periphery)... might take a few hours of skilled labor. Data recovery companies charge money because they know where and how to poke it, not for the poking itself.
Have you ever actually done that?
 
Have you ever actually done that?
Swapped NAND on thumb drives a few times, SSDs are not different, the BGA part is harder to reseat w/o stencils but the idea is the same. In many cases the controllers get cooked or zapped, if the memory ICs are ok - the rest is just technical.

Here
nvme-block-diagram.jpg
 
Last edited:
These days drives are hardware encrypted, and the unique key is inside the controller. In such cases a controller replacement will fail.
I was pretty sure it only applies to industrial storage, consumer drives are too cheap to have embedded encryption. If your statement is correct then changing the controller will just repair the drive but the data will take ages to recover. With my thumb drive, it worked flawlessly and restored the backup.

Edit:
Looked it up, SN550 seems to not be a self-encrypted drive, swapping the MCU (or rather the NAND, to a known good board) would work.