Taking work now — the first look is freePosted in from anywhere in the UK, or handed in at ten drop-off pointsQuicker still, give us a ring:0800 6890668
SDCSD Memory Card Recovery 0800 6890668 Price my job
SDC / Every card, and where it came from / SD Express and microSD Express

SD Express · microSD Express · SD 7.0 · SD 8.0 · PCIe · NVMe · Switch 2 · SanDisk · Samsung · Lexar PLAY PRO · PNY · Integral

SD Express and microSD Express card recovery. An SD card's shape, an NVMe drive's insides, and the Switch 2's only way to grow.

SD Express arrived in the SD 7.0 specification with a PCIe lane and NVMe behind the familiar shape, and SD 8.0 added a second lane. The card looks like any SD or microSD and, in an ordinary reader, behaves like one, falling back to the UHS-I contacts at UHS-I speed; in a slot that speaks PCIe it is a small solid-state drive, with a controller running NVMe firmware, flash, and the thermal limits that come with the speed. For most people it arrived in June 2025 with the Nintendo Switch 2, which accepts microSD Express cards and nothing else for expansion, and the cards from SanDisk, Samsung, Lexar, PNY and Integral that followed it are the ones that arrive here: a card the console no longer reads after a system update, which owners reported in numbers in early 2026, a card formatted by the console with screenshots and captures on it, a card that overheated, and a card that has failed. The console's own game data is encrypted to the console and can be downloaded again; the album is yours and is what the bench goes after. Recovery is SSD work, priced in the top band: from £449 + VAT after the free look, fixed in writing.

Free first lookOne fixed figure in writingNo data, no bill on most jobsReturn postage paid

Rather talk it through? An engineer answers the bench line
0800 6890668

Take the card out and leave it out. Do not format it, however politely the computer or the camera asks. Do not run chkdsk, First Aid, a repair tool or a recovery program that offers to fix the card. Do not keep trying it in reader after reader, and do not put it back in the camera to see. A card that reads a little tonight may not read at all tomorrow; whatever is on it is recovered from an image, and the image comes first.

SD Express symptoms, and how long each gives you.

Not listed? Describe it on the form →
Switch 2 no longer reads the card after an updateA firmware handshake. The album on the card is intact.Everyday job
Console offers to format the cardNintendo's own note: once formatted, the data cannot be recovered by them. Say no.Do not delay
Reads in a normal reader, not in the consoleThe UHS-I fallback works; the PCIe side does not.Everyday job
Not recognised anywhereThe controller or its firmware has failed. NVMe recovery.Everyday job
Card got hot and stoppedThermal halt. Usually readable once cool.Everyday job
Packing it and posting it: take the card out of the device and leave it out; do not format, do not run a repair, and do not keep trying readers. Put the card in a small anti-static bag or a card case, tape that to a piece of card so it cannot shake loose, and post it in a padded envelope or a small box; a snapped microSD travels with every piece. Send the adapter or the reader only if the card has never worked without it. Use a tracked service and insure it for what the pictures are worth, and know that the posting address is not printed anywhere on this site; it arrives by email in reply to the form, with a booking sheet to print; the sheet inside the envelope is what matches it to your enquiry when it is opened. Or hand the envelope in at one of ten drop-off points, your name on the outside and the sheet inside. We pay the postage home either way. The whole of it is written up on the guide to packing and posting.

What is inside, what fails, and what the bench has to do.

Two cards in oneAn SD Express card carries both interfaces: the UHS-I contacts an ordinary reader uses, and the PCIe contacts a Switch 2 or a new body uses. A card that reads on a laptop and not in the console has lost the PCIe side, which is the one the console needs; the data it shows on the laptop is real, and the album can be copied from there before anything else is tried.
The Switch 2 cardThe console accepts only microSD Express for expansion. What it writes to the card is in two kinds: game downloads and updates, encrypted to that console and available again from the account, and the album, which is ordinary JPEG and MP4 that any computer can read. A card the console no longer reads after a system update was reported by many owners in early 2026; the data is unchanged, and the bench reads the card on its own terms.
NVMe behind the shapeWhen the controller has failed, the card is a small NVMe drive on the bench, recovered in the controller's firmware modes or by reading the flash and rebuilding the translation. It is the same work as a CFexpress card and priced with it.
FormatsNintendo's support page for error 2016-0247 says that once formatted, the information on the card cannot be recovered. That is true of the console; it is not always true of the bench, because a format rewrites the tables and may leave the album where it was. Say no, and send the card.

What you see, and what is usually behind it.

Describe yours to us →
What you see What is usually behind it What the bench does
Console will not read the cardFirmware handshakeRead on the bench in the controller's own modes
Console offers a formatFile system it cannot readSay no; image; rebuild the album
Reads on a laptop onlyPCIe side failed, UHS-I side fineCopy the album at UHS-I speed; nothing else needed
Not recognised anywhereController or firmwareNVMe firmware work, or flash read and rebuilt
Hot and haltedThermalImage when cool

From the envelope arriving to your files going back.

Work we have closed →
01

Logged the day it lands, and the first look costs nothing Free

A case number goes on the envelope and a number on the card the day it is opened, with both sides photographed. The card goes into a reader on a hardware imager that controls how long each read may take, never a laptop slot, and what it presents is read first: its capacity, its identity registers, its file system. That decides whether it is a card a reader can see with a fault in the data, or a card whose controller has stopped, and which band it falls in. The first look is free, and you can stop there owing nothing.

Nothing to pay for lookingA single figure, put in writingNo formats, no repairs, nothing written
02

Imaged, sector by sector, before anything else

A card that answers at all is imaged in full on hardware that limits every read and retries on its own terms, weak areas last, with a map kept of what could not be read. A card that is slow, that drops out, or that has locked itself read-only is imaged the same way, in short passes with the power cycled between them. Nothing is written to the card at any stage, and every later step happens on the image.

Sector by sector, weak areas lastNothing written to the card
03

The flash read through the test pads when the controller has stopped

A card no reader sees is a monolith job. The coating is removed to expose the internal test pads, the pinout is matched against a database or mapped by hand, a needle adapter is fitted, and the raw flash is read out around the dead controller. The scrambling, the error-correction layout and the page and block order are then solved in software, and a virtual image of the card assembled from the raw dump.

Pinout, needles, raw dumpDescrambled and reassembled in software
04

The file system rebuilt, or the files carved, on the image

On the image, the FAT or exFAT tables are rebuilt where they are damaged and read where they are not, deleted entries are brought back, and where the tables are gone the photographs and video are carved out by their own signatures. Video files cut short by a dead battery are rebuilt from a reference clip from the same camera. Every photograph is opened before it goes on the list; a file that will not open is not counted.

Tables rebuilt, or files carvedEvery file opened before it is listed
05

You see the file list before you pay

What was recovered is listed for you first, and only then does a bill exist. Approve the list and it is invoiced; turn it down and it is not, and where nothing has come back, most jobs carry no charge at all. The files go home on fresh media with the card, tracked, with the postage paid here, and your case stays open until you have opened them yourself.

No charge until you accept the figureFresh media, supplied with the job5–10 days at the bench

What arrives most often

  • If a laptop reads it, copy the album now. The UHS-I side works when the PCIe side has failed, and the album is all the console will not give back.
  • Say the console's system version and the card's make. The early-2026 reports clustered on particular cards.
  • Send the card only. The console stays at home, and it is not accepted here.

One job, followed all the way through.

UK · SDC-2026-0706JOB LOGGED ✓

A 1TB microSD Express card that a Switch 2 stopped reading after a system update, with two years of captures on it and a console that offered only to format

The card read in an ordinary reader at UHS-I speed, which the owner had not tried, and showed its exFAT volume intact. It was imaged there, the album folder copied out whole and every capture opened, and the card returned with a note that the game data was encrypted to the console and would come back from the account.

100% of the album recovered2 days here, and back by post
Illustrative example — replace with a genuine case

What helps, and what harms.

Do this much first

  • Say no to the console's format
  • Try the card in an ordinary reader on a computer first
  • Note the console's system version and the card's make
  • Send the card, not the console

What sets us back

  • Formatting on the console to get it working
  • Updating again to see
  • Buying a different card and giving up on this one
  • Running a repair tool on it

Questions answered before you commit.

My Switch 2 stopped reading the card after an update. Is everything gone?

No. The album is ordinary JPEG and MP4 and is usually readable in a normal reader on a computer, where the card falls back to its UHS-I side. The games are encrypted to the console and download again from your account.

The console says to format the card. Should I?

Not before the album is off it. Nintendo's note that formatted data cannot be recovered is true of the console, not of the bench, and the album may still be where it was.

Why is this card priced with CFexpress?

Because it is an NVMe drive inside, and when its controller has failed it is recovered with SSD tools. From £449 + VAT after the free look, fixed in writing.

Begin here if yours is doing the same thing.

Nintendo Switch error 2016-0247 →Nintendo Switch, Switch 2 and Steam Deck →CFexpress Type A and Type B →PNY →Integral →NVMe SSDs, on the SSD site →

Nothing gets worse while the card is out of the device.

Looking at it is free. Back comes a list of what opened and what did not, together with a single price to finish, set down in writing while you are still free to say no. On most jobs an invoice only follows the data. Until that list reaches you, leave the card in its bag and format nothing.

0800 6890668

Price my jobPacking and posting