About SSDs

As memories from only a few manufacturers are used in the production of SSDs, the difference between the models is made only by the controllers and the ways of their programming. Due to the imperfection of the memories, the controller manages the memories “on the fly” and is responsible, among other things, for the operations of reading, writing, ECC (error correction), wear leveling, encryption…

Different manufacturers program the controllers in a specific way in order to get the best possible performance with their SSDs, so the algorithms according to which the data is placed on the memory chips are kept as commercial secrets. It is for this reason that the controllers are the source of the biggest problems when saving data from these devices.

In order to access the data, it is necessary to remove the memory chips from the printed circuit board of the SSD and read their contents with a NAND reader or access the appropriate loader firmware of the SSD. After that, it is necessary to put together the contents of several memory chips according to the appropriate algorithm and emulate the operation of the controller in order to see their contents in the correct way.

This content is then analyzed and accessed for data extraction. An SSD has no moving mechanical parts and, unlike most other media, does not store information using electro-magnetism. By using only memory chips, a device was obtained that is more shock-resistant, silent, and faster than other data storage media.