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  Special flash data recovery from KUERT
November 28, 2006
21 November 2006, Budapest – KUERT GROUP is using revolutionary new technology to combat the growing problem of flash memory data loss. The world-leading IT security specialist was among the first to conduct research into the capabilities of this emerging technology, and has developed its own special techniques for recovering the data from flash-based storage media, which are unrecoverable using traditional methods. As a result of its ongoing research and development work carried out in Hungary, the company is able to offer solutions that are specially adapted to suit the memory structures developed by individual manufacturers, both from its local headquarters and at its German and Austrian subsidiaries. KUERT is also equipped to rescue data from the "flash disks" that are expected to become hugely popular in the future. The past few years have seen an explosion in the use of flash memory-based data storage devices. Over a single year (2002) the market for digital cameras alone doubled in size, and experts predict a further 15-20% growth by 2008.
It was precisely these statistics that prompted the company's specialists to be among the first in the world to conduct in-depth research with a view to determining the capabilities of this relatively new technology. KUERT’s data recovery division has spent two years investigating the causes of flash memory malfunctions, with the scientists arriving at some startling conclusions regarding the reliability of this type of data storage media, and the number of write operations that can be performed on them. One factor contributing to the growing popularity of flash-based memory is the general perception that they are more reliable than hard disks, since they contain no moving parts. It is commonly held that this makes them more shock-resistant, and less likely to malfunction. In recent years, in the course of experiments carried out at the company’s laboratories, it has been established that this is not entirely the case. KUERT’s research has revealed that, instead of the moving parts, in the case of these memory units the threat of data loss is increased by the wear that arises as a result of the way data is written to the memory chips. As a consequence of this, similarly to hard disk technologies, the majority of flash memory malfunctions (60%) are physical in nature. KUERT has also reached another conclusion, and one that is far more relevant from a practical point of view: flash memory is NOT suitable for use as a primary work storage device. In other words, flash units should not be used continuously as the main data drive while working on a computer, since they will rapidly wear out as a result of the high number of write operations. Indeed, the limited number of write operations that can be performed is the biggest drawback of flash memory. It is almost always the most heavily used areas of the memory that malfunction first, such as, for example, the administration area of the memory chip, where writing operations are often performed even when no actual data movements take place. “The situation is better in the case of digital cameras and mp3 players, since these devices perform far fewer write operations. Flash memory can also be used for the transfer and backing-up of data, but to protect your data always make several backup copies, and bear in mind that data can only be stored safely for 2-3 years in a flash memory device,” said Gábor Szekeres, director of the company’s data recovery division. In the light of these findings, the KUERT Group has developed special technologies for rescuing data from physically damaged flash memory devices, which are unrecoverable using traditional methods. With the help of this technology the company’s specialists – bypassing the differing structures and modes of operation of the different types of flash device – can read the stored data directly from the memory chips. The raw data thus obtained can be made readable by other software applications, using a recoding procedure also developed by KUERT. Thus, KUERT is not only capable of remedying virtually any data loss problem involving the flash devices that are commercially available today, but is also equipped to recover data from the flash disks (high-capacity, flash-based data storage media) which are expected to become widely available in the near future. Flash technology is still at such an early stage of development that there are no fixed data storage standards. As a result, the technology has to be constantly developed to keep pace with these changing structures, and tailored solutions formulated to meet special requirements. The engineers at KUERT, which also offers solutions adapted to the data structures developed by individual manufacturers, pool their experience within the framework of regular workshops. The specialists visit each other’s research centres on a monthly basis, to ensure that the technologies can be put into use fresh out of the laboratory, not only at the company’s headquarters in Hungary, but also at its subsidiaries (Germany, Austria). The special service usually takes a day to perform, at an increasingly favourable price (currently HUF 25,000/1 GB), and the success rate is high, at 75%. |
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