Revive Dead SSD

Got a dead SSD? My 256GB boot drive packed up yesterday. I tried reformatting it in Apple’s Disk Utility and in the Terminal, and also tried in Windows 7. All efforts to format failed, and eventually the drive refused to mount.

I got this from Crucial Support: plug the power cable into the drive, but not the data cable, leave it for 30 min, unplug for 30 seconds and repeat. After two power cycles the SSD may come back to life – mine did!

51 Replies to “Revive Dead SSD”

  1. Hi Paul,

    On for 30 min, off for 30 sec, on for 30 min, off for 30 sec, reinstall.

    You could have knocked me over with a feather when it worked!

  2. I tried with my OCZ Vertex II. Powered up my system plugged in the power only for the SSD timed it properly but no Luck.

    Thanks for the article it was worth a shot.

  3. I have a Crucial 128 (less than 1 year old) that totally died 3 days ago. I have tried to revive it using the above method, with no luck. I will try it again with just the power cable connected. I was also wondering if I can do the same thing using just a USB to SATA adapter for the power? Any help would be appreciated.

    If I can’t restore this unit my trust factor for SSD’s will be less than Zero.

    Joe

  4. Hi Joe,

    I thnk this method depends on having only power, not data, applied to the drive. Where that power comes from doesn’t matter.

    Good luck!

  5. Hi

    I have used this method in the past. When only power is connected the drive does some kind of tidy/self fix routine. If the data connection is detected IT WILL NOT WORK !.

    p.s. I leave mine on for an hour, just once. Worked twice now 🙂

    Regards

  6. Hi Johnny,

    No sorry. Check that you’re connecting power, not data to the drive. Otherwise, I suggest you contact the drive manufacturer.

    Hope this helps.

  7. Hi Chis,

    Actually I didn’t believe your method when I read first it. Well, I had nothing to loose, so I tried it and it really saved my ssd. Thank you so much. Oh, by the way, I didn’t do ‘30 min on + 30 sec off’ but ‘30 sec on+30 sec off’ two cycles. The point is that it worked. Thanks again.

    Cheers, Mika

  8. Thanks for this – gave it a go on my OCZ Vector 256 Gb drive. Sadly, no joy, but well worth a try!

  9. Which of the two slots is for power the longer or the shorter one. Also how do i get a cable that supplies only power to the ssd crucial 128gb m4

  10. IT WORKED, IT REALLY WORKED!!!!! I had a drive that quit showing up after a major power outage and I thought it was toast, but after trying this I am blown away. I had a Mushkin 120gb from newegg.com wow, great share!

  11. This VooDoo-like technique works! It really does! I just got back an old SSD (OCZ Vertex 2 Series 60GB).

    Thanks for sharing this tip Chris!

  12. I was just going to scrap my drive but thought I would try this first. I can’t believe that it worked! Thank’s soo much for sharing this fix!

  13. Its WORKED with CORSAIR FORCE GS! After all the 30 min. process, i also did this command “chkdsk /f d:” (d is my SSD drive), and the SSD came back to life!!! Tks chris

  14. Going to give this a try on my 120GB OCZ Vertex 2 that’s been sitting on a drawer for 2 years, because OCZ wouldn’t RMA it, because I bought it off Ebay. Even though it was in fully sealed retail packaging and untouched.

  15. Hi! i tried this method and the other (30sec off/30sec on), without luck no life signals under bios and in dos utilities… stopped working after a power outage any chance with my samsung 840 evo 256GB? Thanks 🙂

  16. hi, i tried also the oven method two times (200°C 8min) + (230 °C 10min) and still no progress, but i tested without a thermometer

  17. Hello everyone…do not give up after a couple tries.

    I had to do it about 5 or 6 times. I have a drive that’s trying to come back from the dead, finally.

    I think the key is to keep doing the cycles while always keeping the drive on the power connector and removing the data connector and putting it back on regularly until it decides to wake up.

    Look in Computer Management for the drive to show up asking to initialize…it will not likely show up in This PC.

  18. This does truly work. I have an old 32GB Transcend brand SSD. It took more than 2 cycles to revive it.

    As has been said, keep the power plugged in all during your attempt. Unplug data for a long period, reconnect data for 30 seconds…repeat…repeat again and again if needed.

    I think it took me about 6 cycles total and it finally showed in Computer Management asking to be initialized.

    I turned it into a boot disk with some ISOs containing OS installers and a bunch of tools.

  19. question: do you see any light going on during the 30 minutes the drive is plugged in ? or anything to show something going on ??

  20. Hi Stan, I only know what I posted originally, which worked for me and has worked for others:

    plug the power cable into the drive, but not the data cable, leave it for 30 min, unplug for 30 seconds and repeat. After two power cycles the SSD may come back to life
  21. Hello,

    When you unplug the power cable to the SSD, do you still leave the PC ON? Or do you shut down the PC & then unplug the power cable to the SSD? or does it not matter?

  22. This was a great tip! I have been able to resurrect my wife’s ssd. I live in Switzerland – let me know where you are and I will send you some Swiss chocolate!!

  23. Yes, it does work on the laptop (i’m in the same case). The idea behind the problem is to power somehow the ssd (power only, without data pins connected). So, in order to work for a laptop you must buy a cable that connect to laptop’s pins (if you have enough space). i solved my problem (withou buying a new cable) by using an old desktop pc of mine. I connected power to ssd and then… i prayed

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