The owner of this SD card had already attempted to identify the source of its issues. The card had "become unresponsive" on multiple devices, and after disassembling the housing to gain better access, they found "a small crack in the item" that "doesn't appear to go all the way through". That last observation is the entire case in a single sentence. If a crack breaks a connection but does not damage the memory silicon itself, it is a minor problem, as the chip can be read directly, bypassing the damaged path. However, if the crack cuts through the storage silicon itself, then that is the one limitation on recovering flash media that no piece of equipment can argue with. For a cracked SD card, the most important issue is how far down the crack extends, and that requires examination under magnification at a lab bench; it should never be guessed at on a kitchen table. The good news is that cracks typically occur at the edges and points of connection first, and the owner's view that it 'doesn't appear to go all the way through' is, more often than not, the right guess.
| Media | The owner reports that the SD card has stopped responding in several devices. After opening the case, they spotted a small crack, though it didn't seem to go right through. |
| Reported situation | SD card · no longer responds across devices · case has been taken apart · small fracture found · looks like it does not go all the way through · photos wanted. |
| Fault class | The SD card's board (or package) has partly separated. This has probably broken some traces but left the memory itself intact, as the damage looks shallow. We get round the break with chip-level access and recover the data that way. The only real limit would be a fracture running through the memory cells themselves, and inspection settles that. |
| Equipment used | Survey with a stereo microscope: the crack was located on the board (and traces and package), its position mapped and its depth assessed. The memory was read using chip-level access past the broken trace. It was then removed from the board using hot air where necessary, and placed into a specialist programmer. Once this was completed, the arrangement of the data as defined by the controller could be recreated. Then PhotoRec was used to extract the photos (based on their content), and they were verified upon opening and ultimately copied onto new media. |
A modern SD card is mostly packaging around two working parts: the controller and the memory chip. Most cracks begin at the point of physical stress (edges, corners or the contact end), where the fine copper traces that connect the parts within the card physically break. These broken traces cause an electrical break in the internal workings of the card, but they do not damage the data stored on the memory chip. This is why "cracked" and "lost" are two entirely different problems in data recovery. A broken connection (wire) is what stops the card responding, not the loss of your photos.
The owner's evaluation (not all the way through) needs to be checked instead of taken at face value, due to an imbalance in risk. Looking under a stereo microscope allows us to follow the fracture line across the entire package, to determine where it goes, what it crosses along the way and, most importantly, whether it has entered the silicon where the actual data is stored. There isn't a lab anywhere that can recover silicon fractured through the storage area. This is openly stated here because honesty about limitations is also part of the service. However, the odds favour this owner: partial breaks that leave cards merely unresponsive generally turn out to be trace-deep, exactly as the kitchen table inspection indicated.
Once that first inspection is done, the recovery follows the chip-level plan. First we are going to read all memory from the chip. This can be done either in place, where there is enough connection left to make contact, or by using hot air to remove the chip from the board so that it can be read on a programmer. Once the memory has been read, the controller's scrambled arrangement of the data will need to be restored, and then each image will be carved out based upon its content and opened individually. The crack may still win against the card, but the images get out anyway.
First, the crack was examined end to end under a stereo microscope for depth, path and what it had damaged. With the memory silicon confirmed clear, the memory chip was read past the break, lifted onto the programmer with hot air where the severed traces demanded it. Then the raw read was descrambled to recreate the logical contents of the card; PhotoRec was used to carve out all of the photos based on their content; and each photo was opened and verified as complete before being copied to new media.
To settle this we have to look at it properly. Both inspection and diagnostics cost nothing, and we report back within 2 working days of receiving your card, with a definitive conclusion, a fixed written price and an honest account of what the crack did and didn't reach. Since chip-level work is a physical process, half is payable upfront; the remaining balance is only paid if we are able to recover your data. If the silicon itself is fractured, we will tell you straight, before anything is charged.
Do not bend it any more, and that includes the tiny unconscious flex of pushing it into one more reader to check. A partial crack under stress will continue to spread, and the gap between cut traces and lost silicon may only take one firm press of a spring-loaded card slot. Because the case is already open there is little harm done at this point. However, please do not take it apart any further, and do not allow anyone near it with glue or a soldering iron. Get a quote first on 0800 689 0668 or through our free online diagnostic. Then place the card between something rigid, pad it and post it. The depth of the crack is what we need to know, and that deserves a microscope's answer, not an educated guess.
These case studies represent actual customer enquiries received and processed for clients across York and North Yorkshire. These example files have been anonymised to maintain confidentiality. A detailed description of the diagnostic process used to determine the root cause of the problem and the specific methods used by our engineers to recover data from the specified piece(s) of equipment are provided for each file.
Get a free diagnostic within two working days of your drive arriving. The quotation is locked in from that point forward. On logical failures, you only pay if we recover your data. Get started today via our website or by calling our freephone number.