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Start Free EstimateThree Kinds of Physical SD Card Damage
Physical damage to an SD card falls into three classes, and they sit at opposite ends of the recovery odds. Two are routine. One has no recovery path at all. Knowing which you have tells you what to expect before the card ever reaches a bench.
Cracked housing or broken contacts
On a full-size SD card the plastic shell can crack or a gold contact pin can wear, bend, or break, so the card no longer seats squarely in a reader or makes clean electrical contact. The NAND die and the board underneath are intact; the card just can't talk to the host. This is often a contact-cleaning, reseating, or small trace-repair job rather than chip extraction.
Snapped circuit board or severed traces
When the board itself snaps, the copper traces that carry data between the controller, the NAND, and the contacts break. Recovery depends on whether the memory die survived the fracture. If it did, we read it directly and reconstruct the files. On a monolithic microSD, where controller, NAND, & contacts are one sealed epoxy block, this is the standard path.
Fractured NAND die
If the break runs through the silicon NAND die itself and splits the cell array, the data is gone. The charge stored in each memory cell cannot be read off a die that is physically broken across its storage area. No lab and no tool can recover this, and we will tell you so rather than charge you to confirm it.
What Is Monolithic SD Card Damage?
Monolithic SD card damage is physical trauma to a card where the controller, NAND flash, and contacts are molded into one sealed unit with no separable board. Recovery means grinding down to the die's substrate & landing a spider-board adapter on its internal pads to read the raw NAND past the broken traces.
- Monolithic microSD
- Nearly all microSD cards are monolithic. The controller, NAND die, and contact pads are encapsulated in a single epoxy package; there is no separate PCB to swap or repair. When the package cracks, recovery requires exposing the internal contact points and reading the die directly with a spider-board adapter, then reconstructing the data in software.
- Discrete-NAND full-size SD
- Many full-size SD cards use a small circuit board carrying a separate controller chip and one or more discrete NAND packages. Because the parts are distinct, a broken board can sometimes be trace-repaired, or the NAND package lifted and read on a dedicated NAND reader, without grinding into a monolithic block.
Why Recovery Software Can't Fix a Physically Broken SD Card
Running chkdsk, Disk Drill, or 4DDiG on a physically broken SD card does nothing and can do harm. Recovery software works at the filesystem layer, and it needs the card's controller to enumerate to the operating system before it has anything to read. A broken card can't establish that connection, so the software has no device to scan.
The deeper risk is electrical. Applying power to a card with a fractured board can short the surviving NAND die through a broken trace, turning a recoverable card into an unrecoverable one. Every retry, every reinsertion, every scan attempt is another chance to push current somewhere it should not go.
Software only reaches storage that already presents itself to the host as a working block device. Physical recovery starts a layer below that, at the die itself, which is why a broken card belongs on a bench and not in a card reader running a scan.
Why Gluing a Snapped SD Card Destroys Data
Superglue and conductive tape cannot rebuild the microscopic copper traces inside an SD card, and the glue insulates the exact contact points a spider-board adapter needs to reach the die. A DIY glue or tape repair makes a clean direct-die read harder, so it lowers your odds rather than raising them.
What the DIY fixes actually do
Cyanoacrylate superglue bonds plastic and metal, but it is an insulator and it has no way to reconnect a severed copper trace that is thinner than a human hair. Holding two broken halves together does not restore the electrical path the data has to travel.
Conductive tape has the opposite problem. It bridges connections indiscriminately and can short adjacent pads that were never meant to touch. Either approach leaves a residue across the substrate, & a spider-board read depends on landing cleanly on bare contact points. Removing dried glue without lifting the pads is delicate work that a DIY attempt has already made worse.
How We Recover Data From a Snapped SD Card
We recover a snapped SD card by working around the broken board and reading the raw NAND directly. Technicians expose the die's contact points, read the unstructured flash with a dedicated NAND reader, then reverse the controller's encoding with ECC, XOR de-interleaving, and Flash Translation Layer reconstruction to rebuild the files.
1. Evaluate the break and the die
Under magnification we determine which damage class the card falls into and whether the NAND die survived. A cracked shell or broken contact may only need cleaning, reseating, or a trace repair. A snapped board or sealed monolithic package moves to direct-die access.
2. Expose the die contact pads
For a monolithic card we grind down through the epoxy to reach the internal contact points, working on our 0.02 micron ULPA-filtered clean bench to keep particulate off the exposed substrate. The goal is bare, clean pads the adapter can land on.
3. Read the raw NAND
We wire the exposed pads to a spider-board adapter and read the raw NAND on a dedicated NAND reader. This pulls the unstructured flash contents off the die without the controller, since the controller's traces are part of what broke.
4. Reverse the controller's encoding
Raw NAND is scrambled. We apply ECC to correct read errors, XOR de-interleaving to undo the controller's data spreading, and Flash Translation Layer reconstruction to rebuild the logical-to-physical map. That map is what turns raw pages back into the filesystem and your files.
5. Extract and verify
Once the filesystem is rebuilt we pull the files, verify they open, and copy your data to fresh media. You only pay if we recover the data you needed.
Recoverability by Damage Type
The single variable that decides the outcome is whether the silicon NAND die survived the damage. Everything else is a question of access.
| Damage | Die status | Recovery path | Outlook |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cracked housing | Intact | Reseat, clean, or trace repair | Usually recoverable |
| Broken contact pins | Intact | Contact repair or direct-die read | Usually recoverable |
| Snapped board / traces | Often intact | Spider-board raw NAND read | Recoverable if die survived |
| Fractured NAND die | Broken | None | Not recoverable |
Broken SD Card Recovery Pricing
Broken SD card recovery follows our published flash & SD card tiers, starting at From $200. A contact-cleaning or trace-repair case sits in the lower tiers. A monolithic microSD that needs the die exposed and read directly falls into the chip-off tier at $1,200–$1,500, which carries a 50% deposit because exposing the die is destructive to the original card.
Rush handling is +$100 rush fee to move to the front of the queue. You get a firm quote after evaluation, before any paid work, and there is no charge if we recover nothing.
Low complexity
Simple Copy
Your flash drive or SD card works, you just need the data moved off it
Functional media; data transfer to new storage
Rush available: +$100
$200
3-5 business days
Low complexity
Most Common
File System Recovery
Your flash drive or SD card isn't showing up, but it's not physically damaged
File system corruption. Visible to recovery software (R-Studio, UFS) but not to OS
Starting price; final depends on complexity
$300–$600
2-4 weeks
Medium complexity
PCB Repair
Your flash drive or SD card has shorted components or won't power on
PCB issues: simple shorts, failed components on the drive's circuit board
May require a donor drive (additional cost)
$600–$900
3-6 weeks
High complexity
Chip-off Data Recovery
Your flash drive or SD card needs physical NAND chip extraction to recover the data
NAND chip extraction via soldering, pin-out identification, and raw data reconstruction
50% deposit required
50% deposit required
$1,200–$1,500
4-8 weeks
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.
No data, no fee. Free evaluation and firm quote before any paid work. Full guarantee details. Chip-off recovery requires a 50% deposit because the extraction process is destructive to the original media.
- Rush fee
- +$100 rush fee to move to the front of the queue
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 maintain drive integrity. 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. Our lead engineer holds PC-3000 and HEX Akademia certifications for hard drive firmware repair and mechanical recovery.
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
Our engineers review all lab protocols to maintain 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 videoBroken SD Card Recovery: Frequently Asked Questions
Can a snapped SD card be fixed?
Can data be recovered from a cracked SD card?
Will gluing or taping a broken SD card work?
Is the data gone if the SD card chip is cracked?
How much does broken SD card recovery cost?
Should I run chkdsk or recovery software on a physically broken SD card?
Snapped or cracked SD card?
Free evaluation. No data, no fee. Ship your card to our Austin lab; we read the surviving NAND die directly when the board can no longer present it.