Author Archives: Flash Expert

The Corsair Padlock 2 uses full AES 256 bit encryption available through its satellite board. User data is encrypted on the fly as it is written to the NAND flash and decrypted on the fly as it is read from the NAND flash. Encryption and decryption occurs via the controller on the satellite board.

We recently encountered this drive for data recovery and the satellite board was failing and all the components were dipped in epoxy. Needless to say it was quite challenging to complete this recovery successfully but with hard work from our team, we were able to recover all the data for this law firm that was in dire need of its contents.

We recently received a Verbatim Store N Go with an Appotech DM8261 Controller for data recovery. Consistently in the usb flash drive data recovery industry, usb flash drives using the Appotech DM8261 controller are unrecoverable due to the encryption the DM8261 uses. Many attempts by my data recovery colleagues and others have been made to recognize the XOR pattern of this controller and it has been recently confirmed the Appotech DM8261 controller uses XOR in conjunction with AES-256 encryption. For an inexpensive controller which is fairly unpopular, usb flash data recoveries using the DM8261 are extremely difficult if the controller fails. Fortunately after about two weeks of work, I was able to successfully recover the data on the one we received once I figured out the XOR using the encryption key from the original NAND. I have also seen no-name usb flash drives usually given out at trade shows for free with the same controller but fortunately in the past, a “chip off” recovery was not required since the pcb was able to be repaired and restore functionality. Now that I am able to successfully restore usb flash drives which use the DM8261, these type of “chip off” data recoveries should be pretty straight forward.

Here lately, we have seen a ton of New and Old SanDisk drives. Many of the SanDisk drives we are receiving have broken connectors or connectors completely snapped off. When a SanDisk connector snaps off, most of the time there is damage to both sides of the printed circuit board and it is generally not an easy recovery. Typically SanDisk uses AES or XOR Encryption on their own proprietary NAND flash. These type of flash drives create additional anomalies to deal with when performing flash drive data recovery. Unfortunately, this results in a higher cost to the customer who is in need of a data recovery from a SanDisk USB flash drive. SanDisk is known for consistent and solid printed circuit board construction and are typically manufactured with the best quality components. In general, SanDisk quality is at the top of the industry.

Welcome aboard to our newest clients in Puerto Rico, USVI, Aruba and Curacao!

We recently encountered several new usb flash drives requiring us to manufacture a jig to read BGA 224 which will allow us to perform BGA 224 usb flash drive data recovery. We have successfully performed many usb flash drive data recoveries in the past involving BGA / LGA. This is the first time we’ve seen a BGA 224 NAND memory chip under the hood. These drives are labeled Verbatim with a Toshiba BGA 224 NAND memory chip inside.

Welcome aboard to our newly acquired flash drive data recovery customers in the Dallas Metroplex area including: Midlothian, Fort Worth, Farmers Branch, Arlington, Addison, Plano and more!

Flash Drive What’s Inside
Here is what’s inside a flash drive with integral parts labeled in the photo. The particular USB flash drive shown has the controller and all the components on the pcb (printed circuit board) unlike the monolith usb flash drive which has everything on the silicon die substrate.

USB Flash Drive Printed Circuit Board

USB Flash Drive PCB With Memory Chip On

• Controller – This is the most important part of the flash drive other than the actual NAND memory chip. It is also the most prone to failure. The controller IC (Integrated Circuit) acts as the conduit between the users computer and the NAND memory chip. It is responsible for all the operations in communicating with the users computer transferring data to and from the NAND memory chip. The controller is also responsible for all the data manipulations that occur to the data as it is placed inside the NAND memory chip.
• Oscillator – This IC is what interacts with the controller and provides an exact clock cycle usually 12.0MHz to keep the controller in sync and operational. Sometimes contained within the controller but in the case shown above is its own independant IC.
• Bus – This is the actual pipeline so to speak where current and voltage travels along pathways (busses) in the form of data, power, and clock signals connecting all the components of the circuit board
• Resistor – These are generally used in flash drive PCB’s (printed circuit boards) to provide stablitiy of the various signals and also to decrease current and voltage to specific parameters for functionality of the various components on the PCB.
• Capacitor – Capacitors are used on USB flash drive pcb’s for smoothing the output of power from the computers USB port and keeping the data, oscillator and power signals clean.
• NAND Memory Chip – This is the single most important part of the USB Flash Drive. This is the actual IC (Integrated Circuit) that stores all the data. Since the NAND Memory chip is at the end of the chain in terms of its architecture, the pcb, components and controller are what generally sustain the damage and usually the memory IC stays intact with the possiblity of recovering the original data.