[SOLVED] SSD is slowly dying and data recovery is almost impossible ?

May 7, 2023
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So I have this cheap SSD that I used for my C drive. I have all sorts of documents and pictures there but the problem is that the SSD does not want to do anything copying files to other places or even getting used in data recovery programs.

The background is that there was a sudden power outtage a couple of days ago which completely messed up my C drive. The drive was working but it was constantly bluescreening and freezing up. I reset Windows with the keep my files option and it was ok for another week when it started happening again. It got so bad that I couldn't reach my desktop again. I noticed that this SSD is slowly declining and I got it hooked up to a backup PC ASAP.

I went to transfer all my important files from my dying SSD to my backup PC and it keeps freezing up and sometimes it can't even "read some files from the disk source". Data recovery programs also freeze up. 7zip also doesn't work. It freezes up and gives me the CRC error or the "source disk cannot be read".

I'm lost. The new drives are on the way and i really need my data. It's so important.

The drive in question is the LCPOWER Pheonix 240GB

Cheers
 
Can you show us the SMART report with a tool such as CrystalDiskInfo?

https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskinfo/

Your best DIY chance is to clone the drive to an image file with a tool such as HDDSuperClone/Open SuperClone.

Can you tell us the ID of the controller on the PCB? Is it a Marvell chip?
IMG-20231201-213809.jpg

IMG-20231201-213805.jpg
 
So I have this cheap SSD that I used for my C drive. I have all sorts of documents and pictures there but the problem is that the SSD does not want to do anything copying files to other places or even getting used in data recovery programs.

The background is that there was a sudden power outtage a couple of days ago which completely messed up my C drive. The drive was working but it was constantly bluescreening and freezing up. I reset Windows with the keep my files option and it was ok for another week when it started happening again. It got so bad that I couldn't reach my desktop again. I noticed that this SSD is slowly declining and I got it hooked up to a backup PC ASAP.

I went to transfer all my important files from my dying SSD to my backup PC and it keeps freezing up and sometimes it can't even "read some files from the disk source". Data recovery programs also freeze up. 7zip also doesn't work. It freezes up and gives me the CRC error or the "source disk cannot be read".

I'm lost. The new drives are on the way and i really need my data. It's so important.

The drive in question is the LCPOWER Pheonix 240GB

Cheers
Backup, backup,backup. So many don't which is foolish especially if you have any critical data. Hope you can recover the data, but.......
 
Attributes AF, BB, C4 suggest that your drive is degrading. The raw value of 0x5943 is reporting 22851 errors.

I can't recognise your controller, but it doesn't look like Phison or Silicon Motion.

Edit:

Here is an SSD with the same firmware version:

https://smarthdd.com/database/GS120/VE0R631D/

Its controller is made by Realtek. AIUI, there is currently no support for this controller in pro tools.

BTW, the health status is 92% (= 0x5C).

https://www.google.com/search?q=0x5C+in+decimal
 
Last edited:
Okay so I am doing the cloning right now. How would I know if it is working?

I choose a disk image and it's showing:
  • Finished 31%
  • Non-trimmed 0,0004%
  • Non-scraped 0%
  • Non-tried 69%
  • Non-divided 0%
  • Bad 0%
If everything goes smoothly what do I do with the disk image I get? Do I flash it onto a non-dying SSD?
 
Okay so I am doing the cloning right now. How would I know if it is working?

I choose a disk image and it's showing:
  • Finished 31%
  • Non-trimmed 0,0004%
  • Non-scraped 0%
  • Non-tried 69%
  • Non-divided 0%
  • Bad 0%
If everything goes smoothly what do I do with the disk image I get? Do I flash it onto a non-dying SSD?
What selections, exactly, did you make in Macrium?

And you are "cloning" to what, exactly?
 
It's still working.

If the image completes without error, you should be able to mount it in Win10/11 or OSFMount (freeware). 7Zip can also extract files from the image. OSFMount and 7Zip may be safer because they are guaranteed to be read-only. I haven't tried to mount an image in Win10, so I don't know how Windows would deal with it if there were errors in the file system.

The following tutorial shows you how to mount an image file in Win 10/11:

https://www.majorgeeks.com/content/page/mount_iso_img_10_11.html

The fact that Windows mounts it as a DVD would suggest that it is being treated as read-only, but I have no experience with this.
 
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It's still working.

If the image completes without error, you should be able to mount it in Win10/11 or OSFMount (freeware). 7Zip can also extract files from the image. OSFMount and 7Zip may be safer because they are guaranteed to be read-only. I haven't tried to mount an image in Win10, so I don't know how Windows would deal with it if there were errors in the file system.

The following tutorial shows you how to mount an image file in Win 10/11:

https://www.majorgeeks.com/content/page/mount_iso_img_10_11.html

The fact that Windows mounts it as a DVD would suggest that it is being treated as read-only, but I have no experience with this.
It completed with 5000-6000 "Bad" value.

I'm gonna try mounting.
 
I hope you specified a log/map file. If so, then you could rerun HDDSuperClone and try to improve the result. HDDSC will only retry the bad sectors.

Also, recheck SMART and see if any sectors have been reallocated.

HDDSC also has a companion tool, ddrutility. This tool enables you to identify those files in an NTFS volume which are associated with bad sectors.