Several M.2 SSDs.
Firmware corruption can brick your solid-state drive (SSD) by damaging its internal operating instructions. Without functional firmware, the drive can’t effectively communicate with your computer, and your data becomes inaccessible.
Fortunately, SSD firmware corruption is usually treatable — but the safest course of action is to keep the drive powered off prior to data recovery efforts. Firmware issues must be treated in a professional data recovery laboratory; software cannot restore damaged SSD firmware.
This article explains common causes of corruption and the steps you should take to recover your data from a bricked drive. To discuss your SSD with an expert, call 1-800-237-4200 or submit a ticket online to schedule a risk-free evaluation.
What Is SSD Firmware?
In simple terms, firmware is a set of operating instructions that’s built into the hardware of an SSD (or a traditional hard drive, or any other electronic device). It’s specialized, low-level software stored on the drive’s non-volatile memory chips, and it controls every aspect of its operation.
Key responsibilities of SSD firmware include:
- Flash Translation Layer (FTL): The FTL is a map that translates the logical block addresses (LBAs) your computer uses into the physical locations of data on the NAND flash memory chips.
- Wear Leveling: Distributes write and erase cycles evenly across all memory cells to prevent premature failure and extend the drive’s lifespan.
- Garbage Collection: Proactively frees up blocks of data marked for deletion to ensure fast, consistent write performance.
- Error Correction Code (ECC): Detects and corrects minor data errors that naturally occur in NAND flash memory. Traditional hard disk drives also use ECCs (the linked article discusses ECCs on HDDs, but they’re fundamentally similar).
When the firmware that controls these vital processes becomes corrupt, the drive can no longer function.
How Does SSD Firmware Corruption Happen?
Firmware is generally stable, but any software can fail. Corruption often happens when a critical module or the FTL gets scrambled, leaving the drive in a non-functional state.
We see these cases frequently in our labs, and they almost always stem from one of a few common causes. Here are the primary culprits:
- Failed Firmware Updates: If you attempt to update your SSD’s firmware and the process is interrupted by a power outage, system crash, or user error, the firmware can be left in a half-written, corrupted state.
- Sudden Power Loss: A sudden power cut can catch the SSD in the middle of a critical internal process, like moving data for garbage collection or updating the FTL. That might corrupt the specific firmware modules it was using at that moment.
- Software Bugs: Firmware is code written by humans, and it can contain latent bugs. A specific, unusual sequence of commands from the operating system can sometimes trigger a bug that causes the firmware to crash and corrupt itself. As a recent example, an August 2025 Windows update allegedly triggered bugs for certain SSD models.
- Hardware Degradation: While the main data storage chips might be healthy, the specific memory cell where a critical firmware module is stored can degrade over time, leading to read errors.
There’s not much that you can do to prevent these issues, other than using a high-quality surge protector and battery backup — but again, firmware corruption is relatively rare.
It’s still a potential cause of data loss, so we strongly recommend keeping at least three copies of important data including one offsite backup. Learn more: 6 Data Backup Mistakes That Increase Your Risk of Data Loss
Symptoms of SSD Firmware Failure
A drive with corrupted firmware will often exhibit one or more of these symptoms:
- The Drive Is Not Detected: Your computer’s BIOS or UEFI does not list the drive at startup.
- The Drive Reports an Incorrect Size: The drive may appear in your operating system’s disk utility but show an incorrect or nonsensical capacity, such as 0 GB, 8 MB, or another small, fixed number.
- The Drive Reports a Strange Name: Often, a drive with a firmware issue will boot into a factory or safe mode. This can cause it to report a generic name, such as “SATAFIRM S11” or the name of the controller manufacturer instead of its model number.
- The System Freezes: Your computer may boot but will freeze or become unresponsive as soon as the operating system tries to initialize or access the SSD.
These are aligned with the symptoms of HDD firmware failure — but with an HDD, there are quite a few other issues that can cause similar symptoms. Since SSDs don’t have as many components (and no moving components whatsoever), we generally assume that drives that show these signs will have some degree of firmware damage.
Bricked SSD: Tips for Improving Data Recovery Chances
If you suspect your SSD has a firmware problem, the data is almost always still physically present on the NAND chips. However, the steps you take immediately after the failure can play a major role in determining whether data is recoverable.
We recommend following these steps:
- Stop and Power Down: Immediately power off the device and stop trying to access the drive. Do not repeatedly power cycle the computer, as this can sometimes cause additional corruption.
- Verify the Problem (Carefully): If you are comfortable doing so, you can confirm the issue isn’t with your computer by connecting the SSD to another machine via an external enclosure or SATA/NVMe to USB adapter. If the symptoms persist on a second computer, it confirms the problem is with the drive itself. Note that the safest course of action is to keep the drive off! A reputable data recovery provider will be able to assess the situation without using potentially destructive techniques.
- Do Not Attempt DIY Firmware Flashing: It may be tempting to find a firmware updater online and try to “fix” the drive. Do not do this. Flashing the wrong firmware version — or even the correct version in the wrong way — can overwrite unique, drive-specific adaptive parameters, permanently locking you out from the data and making professional recovery impossible.
- Consult a Professional Data Recovery Service: Firmware-level failures cannot be fixed with software. Recovery requires specialized hardware tools (like the PC-3000, ACE Lab’s FE, or MRT) that can communicate with the SSD controller in a special “technological mode.” Engineers use these tools to load a compatible microcode into the drive’s RAM, bypass the corrupted firmware on the chips, and gain direct access to the user data.
Data Recovery Resources for Bricked SSDs
The data recovery prognosis for a bricked SSD is actually quite good — though the exact chances of recovery will vary depending on the drive’s model, the extent of firmware corruption, and other factors.
At Datarecovery.com, our engineers work with SSD controller architecture every day. We use purpose-built hardware and proprietary techniques to interface directly with bricked drives, rebuild corrupted translation layers, and extract your critical files. Each of our laboratories is fully equipped to handle SSD firmware corruption onsite.
Our process begins with a risk-free evaluation to diagnose the exact firmware issue. We support all cases with a “no data, no charge” guarantee: If we can’t recover the data you need, you don’t pay for the recovery attempt.
If you are facing a dead SSD and suspect firmware corruption, we’re here to help. Contact our experts at 1-800-237-4200 or submit a case online.
