Data recovery company DriveSavers appears to have become the first company to successfully recover data from Apple Macs powered by M1 technology that have been "damaged beyond repair."
The company says its engineers have identified the steps required to access data stored in the latest Apple devices and developed a technique for surgically transplanting M-series silicon onto new functional boards.
"Through dedicated research and development, DriveSavers Data Recovery engineers have determined the optimal techniques for safe and efficient data recovery, minimizing the risk of data loss," the company said in a press release (opens in a new tab).
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In general, recovering data from damaged Mac SSD was not an easy task. As our sister site Tom's Hardware (opens in a new tab) explains, the SSD controller is built into the M1 SoC, so if the chip is damaged, data can get trapped.
Additionally, to access data, various components must remain connected to each other through the logic board, adding additional complexity to the data recovery process.
However, DriveSavers claims to have found a solution to these problems by reverse engineering Apple's security protocols to understand what conditions must be met to recover data.
"The talent and experience of DriveSavers' data recovery engineers are second to none," said Mike Cobb, director of engineering, who made no attempt to hide his pride in the accomplishment.
"Add to that the company's huge inventory of donor devices, including the latest MacBook Pro, which we can strip down for parts at any time. DriveSavers is by far the most capable of
recover data from these ultra-advanced, ultra-secure devices.
DriveSavers' announcement will be music to anyone who has damaged a recently purchased Mac, but it also highlights the importance of a comprehensive data backup strategy.
The best way to protect yourself against data loss is to follow the 3-2-1 rule: keep three copies of your data on two different types of media (for example, cloud storage and external hard drive), with one copy saved in a separate location. By following this method, device owners will minimize the need to turn to a data recovery service in the first place.