USB Memory Stick Recovery, SD card, xD, Pen Drive and Flash Memory Data Recovery

ABC Data Recovery Ltd has a team dedicated to the recovery of Flash memory devices. There are many different brands and manufacturers involved in these devices, too many to list here, however the different types of media that we are familiar with are below:

USB Pen Drives/Memory Sticks
Sony Memory Stick (all varieties)
CompactFlash I & II
PC Card

SD Cards (Standard, Mini & Micro)
MMC
XD
And many others…

The similarities with these devices are in the use of NOR/NAND FLASH memory chips alongside a controller. ABC Data Recovery have unique capabilities in the area of reading data from Flash Memory Devices, including USB Memory Sticks and Memory Cards, this enables us to recover data regardless of who assembled and labelled the device, regardless of what manner of system it was used with and regardless of the problem encountered.

We are experienced in recovery from the following situations:

Physically damaged devices
Accidentally formatted devices
Deleted Files

Bent, Snapped or Damaged connectors
Device Not Recognised

To discuss your problem further please either call 0845 2002 845 or fill in the contact request form above.

About USB Memory Stick Recovery

As a data recovery company we hear many stories of how customer’s data was lost. Mostly this can be summarised in one sentence “I did it in a rush and wasn’t thinking of what I was doing….”

Now whilst this at the time this can be a horrifying thought. It must be remembered that any further use of the device can severely reduce the chance of successful data recovery.

All storage devices whether a hard drive, USB memory stick or even a tiny camera card use a file table to keep a list of where the data is written within the device. This file table is constantly referred to and updated. I suppose you could compare it to an index of an encyclopaedia.

When data is accidentally deleted it is a misconception to say the data is lost forever, this is often not the case. You see what really happens is the file table mentioned earlier is updated and informed that the area of memory occupied by your very important data is now available for re-use.

As you can realise it’s a matter of urgency stop using the device and seek data recovery.

The main difference with USB memory sticks or camera cards is they use solid state storage; this is a technology called flash memory. This is an Integrated Circuit or ‘Chip’ to hold data, but because the data can only exist in a digital 1 or 0. It must be realised that once the file table tells a location to be re-used the data written there first will be lost forever.

So what can be learnt from this is brief explanation is when a file is deleted from a device it must be remembered to stop using the device straight away and seek professional advice. The more use the flash device receives after a file is deleted the chance of the file table re-allocating the memory for other data increases all the time.

You will find a testimonial from one of our happy customers below:

On the 2nd September 2006 my husband and I were married and as all newly weds do we embarked on a truly amazing honeymoon to Africa. Our first stop was a five day Safari to the Masai Mara, Kenya. Every day we made daily treks across the Masai in search of wildlife and wildlife we found. We were lucky enough to see all of the big favourites and with camera in hand we happily snapped away documenting every minute of the trip. Every night at camp we viewed the pictures from the day and looked forward to seeing them blown up in their full glory once home. Unfortunately this was not to be the case. When we reached our second destination we continued to take photos regularly and only 10 days into the honeymoon we had already knotched up over 250 images. It was at this point that the camera froze and the memory card corrupted. We still do not know how our why it happened but the memory card was completely unreadable by both my camera and our computer. We were devastated. All of the amazing photos we had of our trip were gone. Once home we sent the memory card to a number of different data retrieval companies but each one said the same. There were no photos to be found on the memory card. Three years later, my husband wanted to try again. My husband sent the memory card to ABC and we were not disappointed. They had been able to do what all of the other companies had not and thankfully down to the expertise and hard work of Chris we were reunited with our photos more than three years after they were taken. I am so thankful to everyone that worked on the data retrieval of our memory card. The photos meant so much to us and it was amazing to finally see them again. I would recommend ABC to any one as the service we have received has been absolutely fantastic!’

- Katy Elvin-White - Dalkia Resourcing Team