Warranty, software, and what is inside
Every brand, and what its label does and does not tell you. The label settles the warranty. The controller settles the job.
The name on a memory card settles three things: what the warranty will do, which free software comes with it, and how likely the card in your hand is to be the brand it says. It settles very little about the recovery, because inside the shell every brand's card is flash memory behind a controller from one of a handful of makers, scrambled and arranged in that controller's own way, and the bench's job is the same whoever printed the label. What the warranties say about data is worth quoting. SanDisk's says data recovery is not covered and is not part of the warranty returns process, and that the original card is not returned. Samsung's UK warranty says data recovery is not covered and that Samsung is not liable for data loss in any case, and its EVO Plus page says the warranty does not extend to dashcam, CCTV, surveillance camera and other write-intensive uses. Kingston's support pages send data loss to third-party laboratories. Claim the replacement after the recovery, not before. Find your brand below. A card a reader still sees is £149 + VAT after the free look, fixed in writing; a card none sees, or one snapped, locked or lying about its size, is £299 + VAT.
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What the label tells you, and what it does not.
A to Z, every brand with a page.
Not on the list? Tell us what it says →Why the brand matters less than what was done to the card.
Two things decide how a card job turns out, and the brand is neither. The first is whether the card still presents itself to a reader at its right capacity, which separates a job of rebuilding tables on an image from a job of reading the flash around a dead controller. The second is what was done in the hour after the fault: a format accepted, a chkdsk run, a First Aid, a recovery tool with a repair button, a dozen readers tried, a wet card powered. Each writes to a card that was about to give its files up intact. The pages under what it is saying name, message by message, the button to leave alone.
The brand pages are here because the brand is what is on the label and what people search for, and because each brand's warranty, software and product lines are worth knowing before you decide anything. They are written around what each maker says in its own documents, quoted where it matters, and around what the recovery trade has published about each maker's cards: which are monoliths, which use which controllers, which are counterfeited. The card itself is recovered the same way whoever made it: imaged first, the tables rebuilt or the files carved, the flash read through the chips or the test pads when the controller has stopped. How a memory card is recovered, from the reader to the monolith goes through it in order.
None of the card makers runs a recovery laboratory. SanDisk's support answer for out-of-warranty data loss points to data recovery partners and disclaims any liability for their work; Kingston's names outside laboratories; Samsung's and the rest name nobody. What every maker offers is a replacement, which is worth having once the pictures are home.
The questions that come up first.
My brand is not listed. Can you still recover the card?
Yes. The brand is a label; inside is flash behind a controller from one of a handful of makers, and the bench reads all of them. Tell us what the card says on the form.
Does the brand change the price?
No. What the card presents to a reader does. £149 + VAT if a reader still sees it; £299 + VAT if none does, or if it is snapped, locked or lying about its size; CFexpress, XQD, CFast and SD Express from £449 + VAT.
Should I claim the warranty first?
No. The warranty replaces the card and does not touch the data, and SanDisk's says the original card is not returned. Recover first, claim after.
Will the maker's free software do it?
On a card that reads cleanly at its right size, often, run against an image. On a card that drops out, shows the wrong size or is not seen, no, and every scan is more reads of a weak card. The software page says which is which.
Not on the list?
Tell us what it says on the label and what the device says. The first look is free, and the bench reads what is inside, not the name.