Laptop eMMC Data Recovery on a Budget - Andy's Boring Job

How to recover data from the eMMC chip on a Laptop/Tablet/Smartphone without desoldering it or spending hundreds of pounds on professional data recovery services. In fact the whole thing cost me less than a fiver.
The Boardview software can be found here - github.com/Ope...
Big thanks to exploitee.rs who gave some great tips in this presentation - www.blackhat.c...
You'll notice that the SD card reader in the final shot is different to the cheap one I soldered on. This is because I couldn't get the cheap one to work at first, but this was because of the RST pin I mentioned earlier. The SD card reader I ended up using was this one, as recommended by exploitee.rs - www.amazon.co....

[@tangerinq]

Thanks for the tip. I had a similar case and i tried a few different card readers but none could detect the eMMC on board of the dead laptop motherboard. Eventually I figured it out - what's interfering is existing connection between the eMMC data / command / clock lines and the original host CPU. Once I removed the 0Ohm resistors providing this connection, the chip was recognized.

[@hmmmhmmm7688]

@FelinoFacho could you translate?

[@chung_myung.]

​@@felinofachoHi felino, I am not much of an Electronics guy. Can you please tell what does this bridging mean here (connecting which pin to which). I only know oscillator will be connected to pins like xtal1, xtal2. THANK YOU

[@RaveTracks]

Excellent informative video that gets straight to the point. Didn't know this was possible so really helpful. and extra bonus points for the disco Duke outro!

[@TheRasteri]

cheers!

[@itizme8072]

My HP stream burned out over 2 years ago and I put it in storage. Was throwing stuff out, saw it and figured hey Im home with plenty of time on my hands. Saw this video. Same exact PC. Im Gonna give it a shot.

[@andytipping70]

absolutely fantastic - balls of steel attempt - i'm seriously impressed!

[@Jokamutta]

Glad to see that it's possible to recover data from eMMC storage without spending a fortune! But I don't think I would have the skills to do this :D

[@Maeddn11]

Exactly what I need right now. Having an emmc from a Samsung s4 mini for data recovery. Let's see how to figure out the needed pins on the sd reader ( I already have the pins from the emmc).

[@KickAssets]

This video is amazing. I wonder how many people are able to pull it off.

[@aftbit]

Very interesting. The hard/lucky part seems to be finding board schematics for the laptop and/or eMMC. I've recently run into those BGA sockets costing $1000+. Insanity. I'm tempted to try 3d printing my own.

[@h.a.6790]

It most certainly doesn't cost that much. All depends what number of sockets you need. UFI programmer roughly $300 and it comes with eMMC 2 sockets. There's also cheap DIY that people sell.

[@BrockHenry]

@@h.a.6790 Can you point me to the cheap DIY versions?

[@joaquindayrit5746]

I never thought this was possible as I just saw an EMMC pinout having 8 pins instead of 4 for DAT and thought it just wouldn't work. To be fair I didn't look too much into it HAHA Great work and very informative !

[@tiporari]

Brilliant. People would tell you this approach won't work, is stupid, risky. And there it is. The world's sketchiest jump drive. Only needs to work once.

[@ChrisFredriksson]

That's the best video I've seen on the topic after a few months of looking at various pages and such. I've just not been able to confirm completely what you've shown in this video until now. This should also make it possible to program an eMMC, maybe. There might of course be other factors that prevent this, but generally it should be possible. Great video!

[@TheRasteri]

Thanks! And yeah this could absolutely be used to write to the eMMC.

[@ChrisFredriksson]

@@TheRasteri Awesome, thanks for that! :)

[@alistercarmichael4990]

Hmm. I think a card reader only provides access to user space on the eMMC. You will be able to read and write that but to actually program a chip or device there is a lot more that needs done which I am presently looking for a budget way of achieving. They are made using an open standard. However this is not free to access. An excellent video though which fully achieved.

[@riccardoz2953]

Lovely video full of info, thanks a lot. and a plus, the extra bonus video. amazing !!

[@RikuKawai]

This is actually the same method used to hardmod a Nintendo 3DS, but Nintendo handily has test points for all the eMMC lines so it's a lot easier.

[@Myst_Exodus]

Super interesting and informative video as usual! I learnt a lot and love intelligent hacks like this. Thanks!

[@themodshiah6972]

This is incredible, thank you for the info!

[@kbhasi]

Neat! I'm imagining that you would end up backing up the original flash storage, and restore the backup, when she gets another laptop as a replacement.

[@TheRasteri]

I ended up just restoring the backup to a VM and then copying the files she wanted manually to a USB stick.

[@tracylf5409]

You could give Louis Rossmann a run for his money! Excellent video, great job, and hope the meal was fit for a king! xx

[@Nunya58294]

Oh absolutely!

[@s-c-sltd1627]

Very very impressive!! Something like out of the A-TEAM. Great Video....Awesome work!

[@rpsproject5349]

Brilliant video, manufacturers really should not use the eMMC SSD memory it's just too small in size and a pain to work with.

[@LukeLegendLee]

You definitely deserve a thumbs up for this, glad to help you hit the 1k mark.

[@sdadeveloper5223]

man u way of delivering information is so cool

[@smoky5833]

I am not nearly as smart as I think I am, but knew enough to know I could get by with out purchasing an all socket chip reader for 150 bucks, and the accompanying software to access it. Well I will investigate a little further and see if I can find a PC Card schematic. Thanks!

[@ger808]

Andy sir you are a little genuis I hope u don't mind me saying so...I love watching videos like yours however normal they are never as clear in instructions like this one so for that again a heap of kudos to you again sir ..I have now subscribed on the back of this video and hope you have more similar to watch fingers crossed ..anyways thanks again for the most helpful way of retriving lost data from emmc

[@blissbyrne]

Sweet jesus excellent method, Subbed not just for the creative idea , because you got me up out of my chair dancing laughing my head off.

[@KLove89]

Straight forward and to the point 👍

[@gadgetmadlad6691]

Cool video, makes me wonder if you could replace the emmc memory module with an actual sd card reader that way it would make the memory upgradeable and save all the 32gb emmc laptops and netbooks that can't upgrade due to limited space.

[@TheRasteri]

Maybe, but it would be much slower as there are only 4 data lanes on an SD card (versus 8 on an eMMC). Probably easier to just replace the eMMC with a larger one

[@danko5866]

Masterpiece of a video. Though I will likely use the direct solder with emmc because i couldn't find leaks of schematic diagram of my HP Slate 7 Voice Tab.

[@RoadRunnerMeep]

Excellent work, enjoyed watching it as tips for my other repairs

[@pizletwizzler198]

Think you could expand an onboard eMMC with a removable SD-card slot, using this method? My desire is to add removable storage to a device with a fixed eMMC chip via "piggybacking" off the appropriate solder-pads (D1, D2, D3, GND, VCC, etc) and have everything running off the device's power source.

[@TheRasteri]

That's a fascinating idea :) Not all the emmc signals are present on an SD card, so it will be slower and may not work at all, but it's worth a try. You could modify one of those SD card extenders - www.amazon.co.uk/LANMU-Extension-Adapter-Extender-Converter/dp/B01C84YKVA

[@grumps5940]

I think manufacturers should put some pads on the motherboard which go directly to the emmc, would make data recovery easier to do..

[@GREGELZZ]

super interesting!@ thanks for documenting it

[@devicemodder]

I wonder if this technique can be used in reverse to replace a small emmc with a larger capacity SD card...

[@ZILOGz80VIDEOS]

Most SD cards aren't really rated for that kind of use

[@NotRealNamesAgain]

That's damn neat. Plus, now you have a contender for ugliest flash drive 2018. :D

[@gamersinghking4167]

This video is really helpful! But, will this method work on a Samsung Chromebook?

[@preciousjames]

brilliant and humorous too! Cheers!

[@ruggierocapuano5575]

LMAO 4:51 to the end of the video, hahahahaha. Big up man, this video was very interesting and also funny :):):)

[@bogdanbenett1229]

Amazing, amazing, astonishing

[@ante646]

man of the people 🙌🙌

[@1079248]

just stumbled on this video excellent work

[@RetroBerner]

Whoah, that's dope, nice job!

[@jesseerven4859]

thank you I'm doing this very thing

[@shaaa00]

Thanks for giving me the information I'm looking for.

[@Davpana]

Thanks to this little freak, but it's so damn fast to speak that the translator subtitles is difficult to read.. My attempt with 2 USB2 readers failed, but i've soldered only one data line..

[@rebel4jesus180]

I respect your abilities but why couldn’t you repair the whole board, likely just a fuse and if you know where the fuses are... I fixed a handful of boards back in the day when they used the f7821 :)

[@GeorgeGeorge-xj2bc]

For such a tinys connections i use thin copper enameled wire like this of the coils winding.From a salvaged relay coil for example.

[@AkbarNurPribadi]

No b.s. I'm subbing!

[@siosinv3851]

Wow thanks for the knowledge 🤟 keep it up great stuff 👍

[@putraadriansyah8082]

I have an Asus Zenfone Selfie (ZD550KL) that I need to recover file from ext4 partition. The file is in /data/ folder (which is a mount point for /dev/block/mmcblk0p42) . can I do the same trick in this video with my phone?

[@elgatovolador3226]

thank you for this thorough video!

[@marcosrocha2312]

Fantastic !!!

[@ketonokeif4465]

Great job mate! Thank you!

[@marko176schneider5]

Super Video.Danke!

[@samithetechsavvy6485]

thank you very much

[@dm-dl6dg]

Have a similar issue but chip is on a handset is it possible to remove the chip and do it if so were can I get the pin out details for the chip would be appreciated. And would I need to power the chip with 1.8 from say bench supply?

[@h.a.6790]

Cheap doesn't always means efficient. If time doesn't mean anything to you that is.

[@hmmmhmmm7688]

so in this case the basic power to the memory came from the usb connection from the laptop? sweet design

[@nobody-vw9ci]

this is such an informative video thanks!!!

[@wimwiddershins]

Great stuff! Though that (@4:36) is the biggest & ugliest USB stick Ive seen?

[@kutsaraaaikotawa2689]

You're amazing!

[@ArsenioDev]

This is one of my favorite recommendations I've gotten so far. Now can we get hints to those back channel bulgarian sites?

[@TheRasteri]

Haha better not, don't want to get them/me into trouble. Google various combinations of "schematic", " boardview" and the name of your laptop. Often the laptop will have a different product name from it's production codename - which might be written on the motherboard somewhere, or just obtainable via google.

[@I_sprinkle_life_in_dead_hdds]

excellent job :)

[@dersepp4064]

Awesome video mate. Can you tell me why you had 2 cables soldered to Vdd? Did you connect Vcc and VccQ separatly (atleast that are the names of Vcc on my Sandisk emmc).

[@johneygd]

Sure it’s cheap but it’s not for the general consummer without soldering skills🙁

[@pabloascencio7397]

Even then you need some luck to find the proper motherboard schematics.

[@user-mx8mk8vp2f]

man, this is awesome

[@charliebrownau]

Very cool Thanks for sharing

[@jimbarrofficial]

Or, you could get people to save their important files in OneDrive/DropBox/Box/Google Drive and such and be done with it. Fun vid though, thanks.

[@TheRasteri]

fun fact, I later found out that all her files were in the OneDrive folder anyway. She didn't realise that meant they were backed up in the cloud. Pointless exercise in the end but I thought it was worth making a video about!

[@Ranstone]

I've already spent 300$ just trying to read this stupid chip by myself, and I keep running into walls. XD

[@ebx]

Is this procedure reversible? Im scared i will kill the emmc haha Great vid tho, im gonna try with a phone

[@user-yd5bl6dq8s]

Все по делу, благодарю.

[@jacksmythe2146]

Hi, I have a friend's HP laptop with dead motherboard, problem is no one has the schematic. I have watched another youtuber from Germany who has found the pin configuration for the chip he is recovering data from - so he is doing the same as you except taking feeds off an EMMC socket - I am completely new to this kind of date retrieval so dont know if chip families have same configuration or how I would find the same info he has got for the laptop I have. Goes without saying very important photos etc on laptop so want to do this right.

[@thelunamage5772]

bruh what an appsolute chad...

[@DDBAA24]

If you accessed the eMMC over the bus would it not work with just type A to type A USB? I've never owned anything with onboard flash actually curious, it just sees it as another block device ?

[@joseaugustodossantossilva5495]

for emmc 5.1 (the one from lenovo zuk z2 ), that's is possible? i would pay a service for recoverying all my data... there so much photos and i didn't any backup i'm so frustated aff

[@mahendulnith4101]

can i do that for mobile emmc

[@smartfelix007]

Hello sir it was really Helpful for me... can you help me modify a usb pendrive with emmc into a emmc programmer for programming mobile phones like oppo , vivvo, qulacomm, iphone etc. i dont want to buy the jtag or ufi box they are very costly Thank You...

[@christopherstaples6758]

think this would be the same for galaxy note 4 ? I have 3x phones that need access to emmc i was trying to find the resistor to short to enable it to boot from sdcard do i could make a dump but not having much luck their either

[@TheRealFobican]

How about making your own emmc socket as a project?

[@ttthomasss77]

Thank you very much. I need to recover data from my ezbook 3 pro. Do you know where can I get the motherboard schematic ?

[@RuiRex]

Hi, what happened to the first USB reader? The one you show connected to the computer is different. Didn't work?

[@pratikbhagat9028]

Also can we format the emmc and rewrite it again? if yes one can develop his/her own code for emmc flashing

[@THE1B1]

Would it be possible to do the same thing on phone (Huawei mate10 lite)? Can I use Clonezilla also? Thank you!

[@tarunkamli]

What i want to see to get amazed

[@sharik_rahat]

will this method work with emmcs used in windows phones too?

[@eddyboh2723]

Can you use the USB and SD adapter to JTAG a bricked phone?

[@cokomi61]

Excelent Job. Cool Wid. Not A Single Gram Of Fat On It...

[@mikeyzs]

How did you get the 1.8v for logic in the end?

[@TheRasteri]

I didn't, I just ran it at 3.3v

[@user-ye3nl1dh8f]

Where to connect vcc and vccq in sd card adapter i didn't get it please help.

[@ikemkrueger]

The outro. xD

[@caracompass9131]

I'm trying to recover eMMC data but don't feel able to do it myself. By any chance do you allow people to pay you to recover their data?

[@ASHOKKUMAR-xd5gu]

Please tell me what is that yellow tape

[@olafdv]

So, how was the dinner?

[@NateWithMe1]

Would this work with MicroSD with corrupted controller?

[@tongsengulo1197]

Where is the 1.8v

[@rjameslower]

no where, it is not need it

[@scotthanna-uk]

I have a hp that a friend asked me to look at and the emmc is on its own board with a ribbon connecting it to motherboard, do you think it would be straight forward to do?

[@TheRasteri]

Probably be doable (maybe even easier than in my video), but the hard part might be figuring out the ribbon pinout

[@ashwanipatel1090]

Can we recover frm eMMC 5.1

[@jeffr102]

Would you be able to help me out in an emmc data recovery from my chip? I've gone to everybody in my area I would have no idea how to do it. Would you be able to help me out? Could I ship it to you

[@jothain]

That's some hacking there 👍👍

[@pratikbhagat9028]

can we recover mobile phone emmc by same method

[@TheRasteri]

Almost certainly, if you can find the signals on the board.

[@pratikbhagat9028]

TheRasteri sir, need info i tried this by using market card reader but this fails. i noticed that cheap cardreaders dont supply 3.3volt properly. thus emmc fails to read. which card reader is great tht i can find here in india. please do reply.

[@TheRasteri]

I don't know if you can find this one in India but it certainly works - www.amazon.co.uk/Transcend-MicroSD-USB-Card-Reader/dp/B009D79VH4

[@vanepico]

Can anyone send me in the direction of a pinout for a 32gb Samsung S7 KLUBG4G1CE memory chip/datasheet? I would be eternally grateful!

[@litoaranda1810]

Which is the clone software you recommend ???