The first question is if it's just the case that's cracking or if there
are electrical contacts on the PCB inside the case that have broken
loose. If the latter is the case you'll have to pry off the plastic
case and inspect the PCB and chips/components on it. You can try to
touch up the solder pads with a VERY fine tipped soldering iron - and I
don't mean a Radio Shack fire starter :-) Once the connections on the
PCB are in good shape you should be able to pull the data off - although
the card won't be much practical use any more since it'll be bare. Once
the case is busted off you may need to solder wire-wrap wire from the
leads on the SD card to your reader's leads in order to maintain good
contact. That will likely require the destruction of your reader too.
Probably not the answer you're looking for, but if the vacation pics are
really important it could easily be worth it.
-----Original Message-----
From: listbounce@securityfocus.com [mailto:listbounce@securityfocus.com]
On Behalf Of Michael Edwards
Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 1:34 PM
To: forensics@securityfocus.com
Subject: Physically damaged SD card
Any tips or ideas for recovering data from a physically damaged SD
flash card? One of the cards I'm working with has hairline cracks in
it, that appear to be getting worse with handling. I was able to
recover some data off it at first, but now, no go.
I've tried several readers that I have available. Applying some
physical pressure to close up the cracks seemed to help a bit at
first. Typically, if I can get it to read, I can read some data, but
then it un-mounts and either fails to read, or all data read contains
zeros.
Mind you, in this particular instance, it's just my vacation pictures
that I'd be sad to lose (first trip to London), but I've done some
recovery/forensic work with flash media before, and it seems like
excellent practice.
--
Michael Edwards
