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Blog — Data Recovery and Cybersecurity

Technical analyses, prevention tips and data recovery news from the experts at SOS Data Recovery, Swiss laboratory since 2006.

Cybersecurity & prevention

In-depth technical analyses

Expert practical advice

Why read our data recovery blog?

The SOS Data Recovery blog covers all topics related to data recovery, cybersecurity and the protection of digital storage media. Our experts share in-depth technical analyses, prevention tips and insights from over 20 years of laboratory experience.

Whether you are an individual looking to protect your photos and documents, or an IT professional managing RAID servers and NAS systems, you will find practical, verified information here. SOS Data Recovery is CyberSafe certified and CyberSafe partner and rated 4.8/5 on Avis Vérifiés (296 reviews).

Our articles

Recovering Data from a Mac: Soldered SSD, T2 Chip and FileVault

On a recent Mac, the SSD is no longer a part you remove to read the data elsewhere: it is soldered to the logic board, and its contents are permanently encrypted by the chip, the T2 on Intel models and the Secure Enclave built into the processor on Apple Silicon M1 to M4. The decryption keys live inside this processor, and if it dies, they are lost, for everyone, Apple included. This guide explains why moving or desoldering the SSD achieves nothing, and why recovery goes through repairing the logic board to restore access to the keys. You will understand the real role of the T2 chip, the software layer FileVault adds, the Fusion Drive trap on older Macs, and above all what really remains recoverable. Two instincts follow: be wary of promises to recover everything, and back up with Time Machine and iCloud.

September 09, 2026 Author Stéphane Chapuis Read More

#how-to guide #SSD

Data loss: the right moves in the first 24 hours

After a data loss, there is no single right move, there is the right move for your problem. This guide helps you recognise which case you are in and act correctly in the first hours. One reflex applies to all: switch the device off quickly (phone, drive, NAS, RAID) and do not tinker with anything before having it analysed. Some situations keep getting worse and require acting fast: water, extinguisher powder and chemicals, which eat away at the hardware even when powered off, as well as ransomware, TRIM on SSD and updates, which run as long as the machine is on. Others, mechanical failure, short circuit, formatting or deleted files, freeze once switched off and can wait. You will also discover the two pitfalls that doom your data: repeatedly restarting a drive and launching a RAID rebuild after an earlier failure.

September 03, 2026 Author Stéphane Chapuis Read More

#Backup #Crisis Management #Data protection #how-to guide #Server

Corrupted Virtual Machine: Recovering a Virtualized Server (VMware, Hyper-V, Proxmox)

A virtual machine is not stored in a partition: it is one large file (a VMDK on VMware, a VHDX on Hyper-V) sitting on a server that is almost always in a RAID array. When the hypervisor crashes, the RAID goes down or this file becomes corrupted, recovery plays out across two layers: first locate the VM file, then rebuild the system and the data it contains. This guide clearly explains the difference between desktop virtualization and a hypervisor (ESXi, Hyper-V, Proxmox), how a virtualized environment fails, and why a snapshot is never a backup. You will also see the mistakes that make everything worse, such as recreating a datastore or launching a RAID rebuild, and the only right reflex in a disaster: shut everything down, reinstall nothing and hand the disks to a lab that works on bit-for-bit copies.

August 25, 2026 Author Stéphane Chapuis Read More

#Backup #RAID #Server

Lightning and Power Surges: the Electronics Die, but Your Data Often Survives

A lightning strike or a power surge does not destroy your data: it burns out the electronics that let you access it. On a hard drive, it is almost always the circuit board or the power supply that takes the hit, while the platters remain intact. In the vast majority of cases, replacing the board and transferring the ROM is enough to recover the content. This article explains where the voltage spike comes from (mishandling, distant lightning, flooding), what burns out depending on the device (hard drive, SSD, USB stick, server or NAS), and why the outlook often remains good. Two reflexes are essential: do not keep trying to power on a device that has suffered a surge, and be wary of any burnt smell. On the prevention side, a UPS protects critical hardware, a surge protector the rest, and a backup remains indispensable.

August 16, 2026 Author Stéphane Chapuis Read More

#Data protection #Hard Drive #SSD

Is the Cloud Really a Backup?

Is the cloud really a backup? No: OneDrive, iCloud, Google Drive, Dropbox and ProtonDrive are synchronisation services, not backup systems. This guide explains why that distinction changes everything. An accidental deletion, a corruption or a ransomware attack spreads instantly to all your copies, including those in the cloud, as in the real case of a company that lost everything after its synchronised OneDrive was encrypted. You will discover everything that can erase your data remotely (closed account, provider bankruptcy, payment incident, a data centre fire like the OVH one), why no provider guarantees the survival of your data, and what truly separates synchronisation from a cold or immutable remote backup. Finally, the one rule that protects for good: keep a physical copy, offline and off-site.

August 07, 2026 Author Stéphane Chapuis Read More

#Backup #Cloud #Data protection #Server

How to Properly Erase Your Data Before Reselling or Discarding Hardware

Deleting a file, emptying the recycle bin or running a quick format only makes the index that points to your data disappear: the data itself stays physically present, and a simple free tool is often enough to restore it. Everything a lab knows how to recover, a curious buyer can recover too. This guide details, medium by medium, how to truly erase your data before reselling or discarding a computer, phone, drive or USB stick: overwriting every sector, factory reset on an encrypted phone, a degausser for tapes, and physical destruction as a last resort. You will see why a discarded medium is never anonymous, how to destroy a chip without piercing the battery, why BitLocker encryption does not remove the need to destroy, and what Switzerland's nLPD and the GDPR require of businesses.

July 29, 2026 Author Stéphane Chapuis Read More

#Backup #Data protection #nLPD

Broken Smartphone or Black Screen: Can You Still Recover Photos and Messages?

A broken or black screen almost never means that your photos and messages are lost: most often, the phone's memory is intact and it is the screen, or a part around it, that is at fault. This guide explains what really happens when a screen breaks, why you need a working screen to unlock the device and access it, and how a screen breaks down into three layers (backlight, display, touch) whose failure changes the symptom. It also details the real wall of data recovery on a modern smartphone: encryption, which makes chip-off useless and turns a destroyed encryption chip into a lost key. Finally, you will understand why your unlock code is irreplaceable, why you must never force repeated attempts, and how far a properly equipped lab can go to power your phone back on and extract its data.

July 20, 2026 Author Stéphane Chapuis Read More

#how-to guide #Mobile security

How to Choose a Data Recovery Laboratory: The Criteria That Really Matter

How do you choose a data recovery laboratory without making a mistake? This guide details the four criteria that really matter: a genuine cleanroom, ideally a laminar flow hood, essential for opening a drive and changing the read heads; data processing that is actually carried out on site, because a Swiss laboratory does not guarantee processing in Switzerland and many are only intermediaries that ship abroad; transparent pricing with a free analysis and quote, a firm price announced in advance and only a small amount in case of failure; and the absence of hidden subcontracting, with its consequences for confidentiality, the Swiss Data Protection Act and the court with jurisdiction in the event of a dispute. You will also learn which false signals to ignore, reviews that are too perfect and spectacular success rates, along with the five direct questions that are enough to unmask a dubious provider before you entrust your device to it.

July 11, 2026 Author Stéphane Chapuis Read More

#Data protection #how-to guide #Swiss SME

A NAS Is Not a Backup: The Costly Confusion

A NAS is not a backup, and this confusion is one of the most costly in business. Because a NAS fitted with RAID tolerates the failure of a disk, people believe it is safe from everything. Yet RAID protects the hardware, never the data: it will save you neither from a deletion, nor from ransomware, nor from a fire, nor from a corruption that spreads. This guide explains what a NAS really is, the nuance with a SAN, and why redundancy does not replace a copy. You will also understand the trap of synchronisation, which faithfully copies deletions and corruptions, backed by a real-life case where two distant NAS units shared the same problem. Finally, you will see what makes a real backup: a separate copy, disconnected and stored off-site, the only last resort when everything else has failed.

July 02, 2026 Author Stéphane Chapuis Read More

#Backup #RAID #Server

SSD: Why Data Recovery Has Nothing to Do With a Hard Drive

Recovering data from an SSD has almost nothing in common with a hard drive. There are no platters and no read/write heads here, but NAND memory chips driven by a controller, a bit like a USB stick, only far more complex. This difference in nature changes everything: the data is not stored where the system thinks it is, TRIM genuinely erases what you delete within minutes, and hardware encryption can lock everything away if the controller dies. This guide explains how an SSD is built, why recovering one is a trade of its own, and which failures come up most often: faulty controller, corrupted firmware, power surge, cold solder joint. You will also discover the puzzle of invisible BGA solder joints, what a lab really does (tools such as the PC-3000, firmware repair, desoldering and reading the chips), and above all the right moves: stop the device and never run a secure erase.

June 23, 2026 Author Stéphane Chapuis Read More

#Backup #how-to guide #SSD

Blog — Data Recovery and Cybersecurity

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