SSD Data Recovery Does Not Require a Cleanroom
No platters. No heads. No reason for cleanroom pricing.
Cleanrooms exist to protect exposed hard drive platters from airborne particles. SSDs are sealed silicon chips on a circuit board. Charging cleanroom rates for SSD recovery is charging for a facility the drive never enters. Our SSD recovery pricing: $200–$1,500. Five published tiers. No data, no fee.
Do SSDs Need a Cleanroom for Data Recovery?
No. An SSD is a circuit board with NAND flash memory chips soldered to it. There are no spinning platters, no read/write heads, and no magnetic media exposed during recovery. A cleanroom (ISO 14644-1 Class 5 / Class 100 laminar-flow environment) exists to prevent particulate contamination when hard drive platters are exposed. SSD recovery involves PC-3000 firmware repair, microsoldering failed power management ICs, and in some cases desoldering NAND chips for direct reading. None of these procedures require particle-controlled air.
What Cleanrooms Actually Protect
Mechanical hard drives contain aluminum or glass platters spinning at 5,400 to 15,000 RPM. The read/write heads float 3 to 5 nanometers above the surface. A single dust particle landing on the platter can cause a head crash that gouges data tracks in concentric rings. This is why hard drive recovery involving platter access requires particle-controlled environments.
Our lab uses a ULPA-filtered laminar-flow bench validated to 0.02 micron particle count for open-drive HDD work. This provides the same protection as a walk-in cleanroom at the work surface where the drive is actually opened. The full cleanroom analysis covers the engineering in detail.
What SSD Recovery Actually Involves
SSD failures are electronics and firmware problems. The NAND flash chips are sealed BGA packages. The controller is a processor on a PCB. Recovery methods include:
Firmware Repair
Force the controller into diagnostic mode via PC-3000 SSD module, inject a working firmware loader, rebuild the flash translation layer. Common on Phison S11 failures and Silicon Motion controller corruption.
Component-Level Board Repair
Replace shorted PMICs, failed voltage regulators, or damaged capacitors using JBC microsoldering stations under microscope. Common after power surges or liquid exposure.
NAND Chip-Off Reading
Desolder NAND chips from a destroyed PCB and read them directly using Rusolut Visual NAND Reconstructor. Last resort for unencrypted drives where the board is beyond repair. Not applicable to Apple T2/M-series hardware due to encryption.
ROM Extraction
Extract and rebuild the SSD's ROM module containing the drive's unique configuration data, encryption keys, and flash translation tables. Required when firmware corruption is too severe for in-place repair.
Every one of these procedures happens at a bench with a soldering iron, a microscope, and firmware tools. None of them require a particle-controlled room.
Why the Price Difference Exists
DriveSavers and SecureData Recovery operate large facilities with ISO 14644-1 cleanrooms, national advertising budgets, and referral commission networks. Those fixed costs apply to every job that walks in the door, including SSDs that never enter the cleanroom.
| Factor | Rossmann Group | DriveSavers / Big Labs |
|---|---|---|
| Typical SSD Quote | $200–$1,500 (5 published tiers) | $2,000 to $7,000+ |
| Environment for SSDs | Laminar-flow bench (correct for sealed chips) | ISO Class 5 cleanroom (designed for HDD platters) |
| Pricing Published | Yes, on every service page | "Call for quote" |
| Referral Commissions | None | Yes (built into your quote) |
| SSD Firmware Tools | PC-3000 Portable III, Visual NAND Reconstructor | PC-3000 (same hardware, higher bill) |
DriveSavers pricing based on ranges documented in public reviews and our sourced analysis. Rossmann pricing from our published SSD tiers.
The Cleanroom Tax on SSD Recovery
DriveSavers is a legitimate lab. They have real technicians and real equipment. The issue is not capability. The issue is a cost structure that forces $3,000+ pricing on every job regardless of whether the job needed a cleanroom.
Running a walk-in ISO 14644-1 Class 5 cleanroom costs hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in HVAC, filtration, gowning procedures, and facility maintenance. Add national TV advertising, Google Ads at $100+ per click for data recovery keywords, and commission payments to thousands of referral partners. Those costs are real, and they land on your invoice.
When an SSD arrives at a lab like this, the technician sits at a bench with PC-3000, plugs in the drive, and runs firmware diagnostics. The cleanroom stays empty. But the cleanroom's rent, the ad budget, and the referral commissions still get built into the quote you receive.
At Rossmann Group, SSD recovery is priced based on the fault category. A firmware corruption case costs $900 to $1,200. A circuit board repair with a shorted PMIC costs $600 to $900. We publish every tier because the work determines the price, not the advertising budget.
What Actually Makes SSD Recovery Difficult
The difficulty in SSD recovery has nothing to do with clean air. It comes from the electronics and the firmware.
- Encrypted controllers: Apple T2 and M-series chips encrypt data at the hardware level. If the SoC fails, the encryption keys are lost with it. T2 recovery requires repairing the original board to restore the encryption path. Chip-off reading produces encrypted blocks that cannot be reassembled.
- Flash translation layer corruption: The FTL maps logical addresses to physical NAND pages. Corruption here means the controller cannot locate data even though the NAND chips are intact. Rebuilding the FTL requires firmware-level tools and controller-specific knowledge.
- NAND wear and degradation: NAND cells have a limited write endurance. TLC and QLC NAND degrade faster than MLC or SLC. Worn cells produce read errors that accumulate until the controller locks the drive. Reading degraded NAND requires thermal stabilization, multiple read passes, and ECC reconstruction.
- Proprietary firmware formats: Each SSD controller family (Phison, Silicon Motion, Marvell, Samsung, SanDisk) uses a different firmware structure. Recovery tools must support the specific controller. PC-3000 SSD module covers the major families; others require vendor-specific protocols.
These are the problems that determine whether your data is recoverable. None of them are solved by a cleanroom.
SSD Recovery Pricing
Five tiers based on the fault, not the perceived value of your data. Free evaluation and firm quote before work begins.
| Service Tier | Price | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Simple CopyLow complexity | $200 | Your drive works, you just need the data moved off it Functional drive; data transfer to new media Rush available: +$100 |
| File System RecoveryLow complexity | From $250 | Your drive isn't showing up, but it's not physically damaged File system corruption. Visible to recovery software but not to OS Starting price; final depends on complexity |
| Circuit Board RepairMedium complexity – PC-3000 required | $600–$900 | Your drive won't power on or has shorted components PCB issues: failed voltage regulators, dead PMICs, shorted capacitors May require a donor drive (additional cost) |
| Firmware RecoveryMedium complexity – PC-3000 required | $900–$1,200 | Your drive is detected but shows the wrong name, wrong size, or no data Firmware corruption: ROM, modules, or system files corrupted Price depends on extent of bad areas in NAND |
| Advanced Board RebuildHigh complexity – precision microsoldering and BGA rework | $1,200–$1,500 | Your drive's circuit board is severely damaged and requires advanced micro-soldering Advanced component repair. Micro-soldering to revive native logic board or utilize specialized vendor protocols 50% deposit required upfront; donor drive cost additional |
Hardware Repair vs. Software Locks
Our "no data, no fee" policy applies to hardware recovery. We do not bill for unsuccessful physical repairs. If we replace a hard drive read/write head assembly or repair a liquid-damaged logic board to a bootable state, the hardware repair is complete and standard rates apply. If data remains inaccessible due to user-configured software locks, a forgotten passcode, or a remote wipe command, the physical repair is still billable. We cannot bypass user encryption or activation locks.
All tiers: Free evaluation and firm quote before any paid work. No data, no fee on all tiers (advanced board rebuild requires a 50% deposit because donor parts are consumed in the attempt).
Target drive: The destination drive we copy recovered data onto. You can supply your own or we provide one at cost. All prices are plus applicable tax.
Data Recovery Standards & Verification
Our Austin lab operates on a transparency-first model. We use industry-standard recovery tools, including PC-3000 and DeepSpar, combined with strict environmental controls to make sure your hard drive is handled safely and properly. This approach allows us to serve clients nationwide with consistent technical standards.
Open-drive work is performed in a ULPA-filtered laminar-flow bench, validated to 0.02 µm particle count, verified using TSI P-Trak instrumentation.
Transparent History
Serving clients nationwide via mail-in service since 2008.
Media Coverage
Our repair work has been covered by The Wall Street Journal and Business Insider, with CBC News reporting on our pricing transparency. Louis Rossmann has testified in Right to Repair hearings in multiple states and founded the Repair Preservation Group.
Aligned Incentives
Our "No Data, No Charge" policy means we assume the risk of the recovery attempt, not the client.
Technical Oversight
Louis Rossmann
Louis Rossmann's well trained staff review our lab protocols to ensure technical accuracy and honest service. Since 2008, his focus has been on clear technical communication and accurate diagnostics rather than sales-driven explanations.
We believe in proving standards rather than just stating them. We use TSI P-Trak instrumentation to verify that clean-air benchmarks are met before any drive is opened.
See our clean bench validation data and particle test video