Samsung 860 Evo SSD Repair- Data Recovery Lab said it wasn't possible.

[@LarryFrieson]

That was my SSD. It failed on 1/24/2023, and has has taken the majority of the year to be passed between two other recovery houses, before we sent it here. I find it very interesting that the day it failed, I noticed that it was drawing my entire USB bus (or probably more accurately the 12 and/or 5v rails in the power supply) down. (Pardon my ignorance, I don't know what voltages SATA/SSDs use.) The drive failed overnight, and there were no unique events that lead up to the failure. I did notice my P/S making an unfriendly noise while it was still in the PC. After I removed the SSD, of course that stopped. I first tried to read it with a powered external USB to SATA adapter, and noticed that the little blue LED on the adapter went very dim, and the SSD was making a not-friendly-buzzing sound while it was connected. That's when I immediately handed it over to IT and asked that it be sent out to be recovered. Two recovery houses deemed it unrecoverable, before I suggested we send it here. I can't thank you enough for the fix! I will be promoting you every chance I get! (Hummm. I have a drawer full of old spinning disks that have failed over the years that I can't bring myself to discard...maybe there's still hope for them too!!) This is a testament of what can be done with the proper tools, knowledge and someone who knows how to use said tools, and of course...knows exactly what they are doing! I had almost given up on getting my VM's, and some 8 years of code back. (Meh. ~2 years since the previous backups.) Mostly, time an effort that had been put into the 6+ VM's I have on that drive. Thank you Alex, it was a pleasure to watch this diagnosis and repair!

[@ndbass09]

That commenter is why this video exists. Open your mind up to why someone might be interested in some backstory.

[@leonabc298]

@ltg4lyfeYour comment shows a lack of maturity. Why don’t you grow up a little and show some respect to others instead of leaving snide childish comments?

[@nxsmotorsports]

This is helpful information for anyone who has a drive and system performing in the same way. I know every case is different, but if someone notices these same symptoms, they can inform the person or team who is attempting the data recovery and they can focus their efforts on checking for these problems. I'm sure everyone has relayed their symptoms for a problem at some point in hopes of finding someone who shared a similar issue. Being able to search or ask for health, hardware, software, automobile, and other issues in person, online, or in a book makes our lives all the better. I'm always incredibly thankful for people who take the time to document their knowledge and experiences so that countless others can learn from them. Thank you for taking the time to share your observations and story. Glad it worked out for you!

[@omgused]

Given the nature of the problem, I doubt the data recovery labs had the expertise to diagnose the circuit properly. They are probably focused on checking the controllers or the flash itself or the port.

[@twhvyt]

@ltg4lyfewho asked?

[@Karlston]

Not better than factory, better than data recovery lab 🙂 Awesome work…

[@XENONEOMORPH1979]

@@Calypso993 calm down .

[@jasonb4370]

I can just imagine the amount of crying and sorrow that you prevented from that boy.

[@rotorblade9508]

labs… it went through many :)

[@TheRealBobHickman]

My guess is "no fix" means "not worth their time to investigate further" - Great work as usual, and proving again that a little extra effort pays off. The customer is going to be very happy.

[@mercuraz]

Or they don't have the necessary electronic skills and tools to repair it. They would have data recovery tools and equipment but nothing like Alex has

[@heretic5552]

Even Alex has his limits sometimes

[@mryo-yobzh9485]

@@mercuraz Doing a reflow/reball that works properly must require some advanced skill and equipement, and they wouldn't have a basic multimeter, variable power supply and alcool ?

[@geraf33]

Data recovery labs literally just desolder the nand chips and try to read them on another board, which obviously doesn't work because the chips are encrypted to the controller on these drives in order to work.

[@scottrobinson4611]

​@@geraf33data recovery labs do a whole lot more than that. Look at Visual NAND Reconstructor, or PC-3000 Flash. These are complex pieces of software with accompanying hardware to read NAND chips and manually reconstruct the logical data volume from the physical blocks in the NAND. It's pretty specialist work. Takes months to get an idea of how a basic recovery works, and years to master all the capabilities of the reconstruction software. It's not just swapping chips to a new board. Far from it.

[@drphibesrises]

Wow! I can feel your excitement. I'm sure your customer is happy. Nice work!

[@LarryFrieson]

His customer is thrilled! I'ma hafta put Alex on my Christmas card list now! I've been stressing for 9 months over this SSD! Without going into too much detail, there is code that only exists on that disk due to a nasty bug in some 3rd party software. I had almost given up, and written it off.

[@goldmarkg]

Alex, you never cease to amaze me with your diagnostic and repair skills! Great job once again.

[@SaraMorgan-ym6ue]

the atomizer makes the isolation easier to find by far

[@ejeckk]

The sincerity of that Alex smile. It makes me happy for both the customer and you. Great job, sir.

[@graxxor]

His enthusiasm is top notch. It's so good to watch somebody enjoying their job and being so good at it!

[@georgibayramski8178]

Number 1 My mentor tell me "you will know how good is any engineer by his tools" As i know you try different and find better every time, ehst use it on your bench. I use your your technique today and fix s damaged motherboard with liquid. Reault was broken trace and short GDS. As i say, We learn every day.

[@bblod4896]

A fresh set of eyes that has experience in actually repairing equipment using proven techniques of testing and observation makes all the difference. Alex, thanks for producing the video.

[@gothamantiquities2595]

You say let me know what we think? I think you are a FRIKEN genius!!!!!! You have helped so many people I know here in New York that are technicians. I watched a video that you you checked the Star chip and fixed. When my iPad was misdiagnosed by many people and told to just buy a new one, I then went to 2 guys here in NY Angel and Eddie out of the Bronx & Mt Vernon area and asked them if it was the Star chip and he replaced it. Then my IPAD was fixed and didn’t lose all of my things that were very important to me! Thanks for all of your hard work that is helping people world wide!

[@frankbumstead3838]

I'm surprised especially a high tech data recovery team got far too technical. Sometimes going back to basics works. Well done.

[@Repair._What_else]

It is awesome to see you being so happy about such a repair even by having repairs all over the whole day - You put your heart into your work - that's so great to see! Keep up the good work!

[@igordasunddas3377]

This is what YT is for. Thank you very much for this educational video!

[@Jacobt844]

It's not even my job but seeing it work and knowing we beat a specialised data recovery place because it took someone who knew electronics is awesome

[@numbr6]

Sad how many system failures are due to bad capacitors. Amazing debugging/diagnostic work. Great job!

[@Zikatus]

they make millions of them so it's notmal they are likely to fail. anyway I only buy the SAMSUNG PRO series drives

[@traviss7740]

very cool process. It's interesting that you didn't have to replace the component to fix the drive, just remove it.

[@michaelgleason4791]

As long as you're still working on it, there is always hope. Amazing how many things you've fixed with this technique.

[@mahdikairous1669]

If you keep going like that, I will fix any corrupted motherboards with just copying your technics. great job Alex. much love from Algeria.

[@simonanthonysaoud2059]

Alex, I had full confidence that it will work. Well done, you are more than a university

[@robert3892]

I really enjoyed this video. One faulty component. You did what the drive recovery team could not. Congrats,

[@tecnogof]

I hope those that worked on the device at the data recovery lab, get to see this video and expand their knowledge.

[@isaacpargas5158]

I truly love Alex videos. The love he shows for each fix he does, and the excitement, shows the love he has for his work!

[@RPike-bq3xm]

I’m favorite repairs are those that others have tried. I’m always more curious about the issue when someone else has failed. You won that competition. Great job.

[@alanh4471]

Why does the drive work when you have removed part of the circuit? Isn't a CAP like a 'buffer', but now there is a gap/broken circuit now - and no 'buffer'...

[@WolfIonGaming]

This was an amazing video and fix! I had high hopes for the drive especially with the way you proceeded to work on it with checking the short on the capacitors using the flux spray! Awesome work im always learning with your videos! 👏😁

[@laidman2007]

That's an exciting victory! So exciting, I recited the events to my husband during breakfast. He wasn't quite as excited as I was.

[@OhGoodonya]

I think you're a legend. That's what I think. Well done!

[@Muroabdje]

I would not consider the drive as fixed in the long run. Copy the data to another drive and get rid of this one ASAP. Great work!

[@SaraMorgan-ym6ue]

yeah, copy the data and junk it for a new one plain and simple

[@penttiranta9730]

Now the experts come in with advice XD

[@jon123423]

Transfer data to another drive and also put it on cloud!

[@85Pushead]

I'm not much of an IT guy, only built some PCs myself and so on... Don't know how NF showed up in my feed but I'm glad it did, watching Alex work is mesmerizing (like how he talks and how he explains things), a true PCB wizard!

[@nuyork77]

I remember telling my customers sometimes before their motherboard failed that they should replace the failing capacitors. On motherboards you can sometimes visually see the caps bulging, but Alex is so legit with electronics knowledge... One day, Alex, I'd love to be as comfortable with these intricate repairs as you are. Excellent work as always. You're an inspiration, I'll say that!

[@andybonneau9209]

Congratulations. Perseverance and skill go a long way. Too many people aren't very good at what they do and instead of admitting it, they make excuses.

[@PineHollowAutoDiagnostics]

Amazing. Love the excitement and satisfaction 😁 Voltage injection and thermal camera looks like a very effective diagnostic method!!

[@tenmillionvolts]

Hi Ivan. I just came from your Jeep video. I decided to watch Alex do a repair, and here you are. The diag world is a tight knit place thanks to KZbin 🙂

[@chriscoolandcalm4364]

Am curious on. ,How much voltage

[@ivanfreely6366]

@@chriscoolandcalm4364 I'd imagine no more than what the device is able to handle. The repair guy started the lowest settings and worked his way up.

[@djosearth3618]

@@tenmillionvolts how due to yt?

[@damolin77]

I always had faith in you Alex you don't give up that easy and just shows that data recovery businesses are not the be all and end all. I think this data recover business can learn a thing or 2 from you and hope they see this video.

[@LarryFrieson]

In my experience, _most_ data "recovery" houses are capable of running "undelete", and maybe "fdisk /mbr" and utilities like that. They are not able or prepared to go down to the hardware level, which is what my drive needed here. I'm very thankful I found Alex by pure chance, watching some of his videos, and I asked our IT team to send it /one/ more place--and that was the key!

[@keno2048]

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that still gets a thrill out of making something work like that. (Even after 40 years of doing it). :) Cheers!

[@thewelder9492]

I’m so impressed. This is not just customer service but customer satisfaction.

[@verovieira1]

He looked like a child when he managed to see the files, great work, congratulations from Brazil !

[@shaddow11ro]

Well that look keeps him doing this with passion! Because this is passion first and foremost! Great job, event if it looked simple... took many years to reach this level!

[@thethoughtfield]

I knew it was coming alive again the moment you touched it, you have magical hands, .....and tools......and brains

[@ivanfreely6366]

I assumed the drive was dead and recovery wasn't possible at the beginning of your video. But you've proven otherwise. A job well done. 👍

[@MikkoRantalainen]

That flux powder trick was awesome! I'm actually pretty disappointed on whatever data recovery lab was tried first because this kind of problem should definitely be solvable for a good lab. It's not like those surface mounted caps a reliable and applying low voltage test current to search for heating components should be always safe.

[@mrwoodandmrtin]

I now fix small stuff thanks to you making it seem commonplace. Before watching you, it seemed impossible.

[@digitalwoodshop]

Wow.... That was amazing.... As a former Sony Service Tech 20 years ago and Retired Navy Tech... WOW... I learned allot watching this video... Will watch more....

[@jayman912]

The best part was watching your happiness after you realized you fixed the issue. That is such a good feeling to know you beat the problem and I enjoyed watching you go through that moment again. Good job

[@shinokami007]

[@Ryan_DeWitt]

He actually looked shocked. He probably though the chance of recovery after reading the supposed specialist report was pretty low but he was going to give it a shot anyway.

[@AtherisMods]

Love it! That smile is why I love repairs. You cant win them all, but when you do, it’s the best feeling. Nice job Alex.

[@dskebo]

This kind of info would have been kept secret in my day. Thank you for all you do for the public and making the internet awesome.

[@shepardsinsequence]

That’s crazy it’s like checking for a crack in an engine block… but they use magnaflux to find cracks in the block…. I love this

[@geoffreykeane4072]

Wonderful fix! I was betting on it being that reflowed chip. Great job satisfaction to help someone who obviously needed that data!

[@jameysummers1577]

I love that feeling! When I get a laptop that other business in town couldn't fix and I fix it. That is a great feeling. I am the only place in my city that offers soldering and component diagnosis like you.

[@billchildress9756]

The Right Man with the Right Tools and Knowledge can accomplish anything! BRAVO!!!

[@dav1dbone]

Handy little tip that Alex, I just saved myself a lot of time and effort trying to locate a fault with a hub motor on a hall sensor PCB, injected voltage and saw a cap light up on the flir, changed it - sorted. Imagine going head first assuming it was a shorted hall transistor, the amount of hassle glue and string and it'd never go back in correctly. 🎉

[@Ringo300880]

Einmal mit Profis arbeiten 👍 Super gemacht!

[@gregfisher216]

Great work Alex ! You never know ,but you try ,you use your experience , your knowledge to make the repair. Your joy at getting to drive to work is priceless!

[@Jackson_Harris]

All i can say is WOW. Same reactions you did when finding the short and reading the files i was in actual shock in happiness lol. This video is incredible ❤

[@Stilkdog]

Glad you got this, data recovery is never a fun task for anyone. I saw the previous repair attempts they did and it looks like they just replaced a bunch of stuff or they just used so much flux and didn't clean it up I expected it to be difficult but that flux powder is really helpful in these sort of situations where you have many caps reading a short and components are close to each other. It's always good that we tech shops try and report or show our foxes or even fails as it can help us learn or improve our repairabilities. Great fox once again!

[@HarryLewinASR]

Very impressive. After seeing all those shorts, I thought it would be a fno-fix for sure.

[@sieferswe]

Great job as always. I for sure would pay premium for this kind of service and skill 👍

[@new5oppo515]

رائع! أستطيع أن أشعر الإثارة الخاصة بك. أنا متأكد من أن عميلك سعيد. عمل جيد!

[@VintageCR]

Wow.. deemed a "No fix" yet, after removing 1 bad cap, it is able to work again. amazing work as always!

[@OneBadAssDJ]

I feel bad for the guy that sent that drive into a data recovery service. They charge you an arm and a leg whether they repair your drive or not. Great repair, well done!

[@Zikatus]

yep. unlike HDD's that can be ressurected by hand it's better to regularly perform backups when it comes to SSD's

[@joseph_donovan]

Data Recovery! More like Data Rejection! Alex has put those companies to shame! What a fix! What a delight to watch! Bravo Alex!

[@richardwarburton90]

top work Alex, i love watching your skill and methodology to get to a fix where others have failed!

[@time4thetruth305]

You are definitley the man. I just love watching your videos. Skilled, and Honest. Give yourself and your crew a pat on the back.

[@colinreece3452]

The Sergeon did it again, well done Alex. That victory smile at the end, you got the bad boy.

[@busyonthefarm]

Love it when those aha moments happen while diagnosing anything really. I don't have them often enough. Thank you for letting me enjoy your aha moments

[@mrBDeye]

I thought it was a no fix after reading the letter from the lab. This was another example of experience and knowledge. NORTHRIDGE FiX AMAZING WORK !

[@gregvisioninfosoft]

You are an amazing troubleshooter with great knowledge. If any of my SSDS should ever give trouble, I will send to you.

[@space4ace582]

Until almost the very end, it seemed like a no-fix... But you did it Alex! Great work! This one was a nail bitter. Thanks for the videos.

[@GarethDaviesUK]

You make it look easy but your troubleshooting is genius.

[@playmangostingiu2217]

I trust you and I'm confident that you will fix it. That was my thought.. Sometimes putting hands on a device where someone else messed with, creates a sort of uncertainty, but you find always the best way that lead to the solution

[@ambiguousguy5501]

Your excitement translated perfectly through the screen - I could feel it!

[@BeUnitednow]

Since I started following you I have learnt so much and I trusted from the beginning that you can handle it. Well done sir

[@BrianFedirko]

I'm proud of you, and when this type of thing happens to me, I'm going to get in touch with you... I'm so glad this is here as an example. Ha, kinda like N.C.I.S comes to life (did you check the buffer?)... wow, great job dudes.Gr8! Peace ☮💜

[@dienudelpfanne600]

I love how you love to help people.

[@rent2ownnz]

Good job my man.... Well diagnosed and reduced down to the culprit. Amazing!

[@DB25k]

That pc usb connection sound is the most satisfying... Feeling after the trouble shooting on the board.. Great video Alex..

[@IMRANKHAN-we9un]

I Never miss any video SIR, You are the best engineer ❤❤. Your diagnosis power is unique in any fault. Will Learn many more from you in future. Love,Wishes and respect from INDIA.

[@paulgeorgiancaliap9828]

FELICITĂRI MAESTRE... ÎNCĂ O TREABĂ BINE FĂCUTĂ... MULTĂ SĂNĂTATE ȘI SPOR LA MUNCĂ ÎN CONTINUARE... 👍👍👍🥰🥰

[@Jjesseddieus]

That is exactly what good knowledge of how a unit works & the willingness to try gets you. Good results. Very good job & a lot art, diagnostic testing skills.

[@NateASE]

New to channel. I’m an auto tech and will remember you guys if I ever need a module repaired. Sometimes I come across cars that certain modules are on back order, not available or just flat out too expensive to replace. Great vid!

[@markmorris6246]

great Job Alex. i had high hopes in your ability. thanks for sharing, you made that person happy and maybe a customer for life happy.

[@justaguy4real]

Start at 6:30 Thats where the lesson really begins. Easy for places to deem a "no fix" when they have nothing to lose. I've fixed many "no fixes" myself, and yes, a good feeling. Way to go Northridge, gratification.

[@mundocpc]

Great work! I would say that the repair was a combination of great skills to detect the problem and a lot of luck regarding the chips, that were not damaged or erased. In SSD devices, if data is gone for real it is usually gone for good...

[@loubedoo2129]

Your skills, patience and determination are amazing Alex. Fantastic job and the videos are awesome to watch.

[@omromt1771]

. You are the best. I like the smile on your face when you do the fix.

[@muttBunch]

Nice job Alex. Hopefully customer is smiling ear to ear

[@JamesMorgan08]

That’s amazing, there’s truly so many talented people out there..

[@savolainen9987]

Hat off! When I was doing repairs in 80s and 90s a good milliohm meter or brutal burn-something with sufficient current method did a good job, but in these days you need something even better. And I did learn something today, thanks.

[@WMH-3D-Printshop]

well done as always. when I watched the video from the beginning I already had a feeling that you would find the error. due to reached which the others do not have on their checklist regarding troubleshooting.

[@fragrance001]

your working style and troubleshooting method is mind blowing

[@S2KPHD]

Not sure how I was recommended this video, but it was well worth it. Knowledge gained today!

[@eliezercatseye1298]

i wonder what will be the reaction of the shop who deemed that device as no fix if they saw your video. i'm sure they will feel embarrassed.

[@Nobbie248]

I hope the customer shares this video to them 🙏

[@giornikitop5373]

most "data recovery" shops deal with the software side of things and mostly hdds since if the disk is not hard clicking, software tools can usually ignore the bad sectors and you get some good chance of getting back data. with ssds it's a whole different can of worms. but only true data recovery centers can deal with hardware faults and they are very expensive. my guess is that the client send it to a local shop that did their best, but they don't have experience in electronics repair.

[@sunflowers6612]

Great Work Alex . Where would the world be without a thermal camera

[@fletch3576]

I'm always amazed how one tiny component failing can cause such an issue but even more amazed how you find the fault very interesting to watch 🙏👍

[@SaltMinerOU812]

And then he didn't even have to replace it like someone else in the comment said I would get the data off it immediately and scrap it cus probably happen again

[@prillewitz]

Good job! Spending some time for an obvious fault can lead to results as we can see! 😊

[@loonysam506]

Well, that's an amazing skill you got there Alex. Great work. I never deem anything a no fix, this is a skill I learned in all these years. 😉👍

[@eidodk]

If you were a repair shop with hourly rates, you'd quickly learn how to deem stuff no-fixes. If you take $500 for a fix, but it costs you $1000 to fix it, it will drain your business in no time. That's the "problem" with us home-bench electronics geeks, we never value the time we spend, because we love tinkering, and we feel like we learn from doing exactly that. I've spend several nights on repairs that could have been cheaper to just toss in the bin, and then buy a new part, but since i am stubborn, i keep at it. Spending an hour fixing a $5 part is not viable.

[@MitchellJBridges]

​@@eidodkYour right. It was like the time that I spent trying to fix a old Lenovo yoga laptop. I loved it, but in the end it was not worth fixing it. I could buy a new one in a discount store.

[@bradleycooper5436]

​@@eidodkit takes time to get a part

[@alejandronovell5817]

Hi Alex! I’m a super fan of you, thanks to you I’m starting my repair shop right now:) I would like to ask you to put a camera to your multimeter, so that we can see what you are testing. Thank you very much again!

[@alexlefevre3555]

Imagine being the data recovery firm that replaced an entire IC and spent hours diagnosing... only for it to be a $.005 SMD cap the entire time. I have a flux atomizer on the way. Awesome to see what I can expect from it!

[@colorblindboi5271]

I feel like I learn a days worth of knowledge every video I watch from you.

[@creationsmv6201]

Great job Alex, greetings from Lithuania👍

[@abdullahmuthanna707]

I'm truly impressed by the level of professionalism you possess. You're a genius, indeed! I've always been searching for the right person due to my passion for this field. I hope you have a tutorial course for this area; I'll be the first to buy it. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you offer.

[@romanaroun]

Dude you are the best tech --- teacher I have ever encountered on KZbin!!!!!!! AMAZING 😀