{"video_id":"u1MNgP3LFM4","title":"This phone is DEAD, but they saved the DATA!","channel":"Linus Tech Tips","show":"Linus Tech Tips","published_at":"2021-05-05T14:53:29Z","duration_s":654,"segments":[{"start_s":5.359,"end_s":11.84,"text":"accidents happen and the team at drive savers deals with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":9.2,"end_s":16.4,"text":"the fallout of a lot of accidents so they sponsored this video to tour their","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":14.0,"end_s":20.56,"text":"sick facility in california to show the process of recovering the data from","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":18.32,"end_s":24.48,"text":"mobile devices like iphones that have gone through everything from being","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":22.56,"end_s":28.56,"text":"dropped out of a moving car to being thrashed by a gorilla at the zoo to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":26.4,"end_s":32.96,"text":"being literally destroyed in a plane crash this tour is gonna be a little","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":30.88,"end_s":37.84,"text":"different though because i'm actually in my studio at home due to travel","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":34.8,"end_s":40.84,"text":"restrictions but it'll still be really","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":37.84,"end_s":40.84,"text":"cool","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":47.6,"end_s":53.84,"text":"every phone recovery starts with educating the customer drive savers data","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":52.0,"end_s":58.0,"text":"recovery my name is dylan how can i help you now the average person might think","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":56.0,"end_s":63.28,"text":"that data recovery is similar to what the apple store might do but in reality","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":60.48,"end_s":67.92,"text":"it is very unusual for data recovery to be covered by any sort of manufacturer","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":65.439,"end_s":73.04,"text":"warranty and the process is totally different when you send a device in for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":70.56,"end_s":77.04,"text":"repair it's much more economical for a company like apple to simply replace","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":75.04,"end_s":80.799,"text":"whatever is broken rather than spending long hours diagnosing and fixing board","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":79.52,"end_s":86.0,"text":"level faults now this would be fine except that they","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":83.52,"end_s":91.6,"text":"see components like the main board as one piece so if there's an issue with it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":88.88,"end_s":96.96,"text":"or anything that's attached to it it's gone that means no data they operate","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":94.88,"end_s":101.119,"text":"this way because a manufacturer is only concerned with preventing devices from","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":98.799,"end_s":105.6,"text":"breaking it's uneconomical to try to fix them once they do which is why the most","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":103.36,"end_s":110.64,"text":"straightforward data recovery operations are often though not always the ones","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":108.0,"end_s":114.88,"text":"where the issue is logical rather than physical and no hardware actually needs","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":113.04,"end_s":119.119,"text":"to be changed and in order to make this process as smooth as possible drive","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":117.2,"end_s":123.04,"text":"savers has actually developed their own in-house tools to take out some of the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":121.439,"end_s":128.16,"text":"guesswork something that they're now also using for t2 mac recovery so when a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":125.84,"end_s":133.44,"text":"device arrives drive saver's first step is to give it a once over if it's boot","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":130.399,"end_s":135.44,"text":"looping in recovery mode or it powers on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":133.44,"end_s":138.48,"text":"but won't actually boot up there's a good chance that they can connect it","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":136.879,"end_s":141.44,"text":"with a lightning cable and perform the recovery that way","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":139.92,"end_s":144.879,"text":"very convenient but also dangerous","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":143.04,"end_s":149.76,"text":"one of the most important parts of this discovery process is checking the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":146.959,"end_s":152.959,"text":"voltage and amperage of the device certain readings might point to a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":151.36,"end_s":157.519,"text":"particular chip that's failed which could result in a data loss if a logical","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":155.519,"end_s":162.64,"text":"recovery is attempted directly it all comes down to experience 0.8 amps or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":160.239,"end_s":166.48,"text":"higher is typical but other readings can be a strong indicator that it's a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":164.48,"end_s":170.0,"text":"physical issue and it's time to crack the casing open","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":167.92,"end_s":174.16,"text":"at this stage it's best to start by looking for simple problems like shorts","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":172.0,"end_s":178.08,"text":"on the motherboard this can be done by freezing the logic board with a cold","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":175.84,"end_s":182.319,"text":"spray and looking for areas that thaw too quickly indicating excess heat or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":181.2,"end_s":185.76,"text":"thanks to the wonders of modern technology it can also be done with a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":184.319,"end_s":190.879,"text":"thermal camera using this method even very small shorts","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":188.56,"end_s":195.519,"text":"can be identified although finding the source of the short can be an entirely","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":193.12,"end_s":200.72,"text":"separate issue some simple shorts are fixable failed resistors can be replaced","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":198.319,"end_s":204.48,"text":"and burnt traces can in some cases be repaired as long as the technician","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":202.959,"end_s":208.72,"text":"doesn't drink too much coffee ahead of time i actually asked drive savers what","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":206.64,"end_s":213.519,"text":"their most important tool is and i was surprised to hear them say","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":210.84,"end_s":216.959,"text":"really while the particular model comes down to personal preference","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":215.44,"end_s":221.599,"text":"everyone there agrees that it is absolutely essential that the ends line","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":219.04,"end_s":226.239,"text":"up really well otherwise you might be transferring a component to a board only","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":223.599,"end_s":229.599,"text":"to have it go flying out and good luck holding on to something like a micro","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":227.84,"end_s":234.08,"text":"jumper if the ends don't match up absolutely perfectly those puppies are","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":232.239,"end_s":238.319,"text":"thinner than a human hair and even the breeze from someone walking past can","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":235.92,"end_s":242.72,"text":"blow them away never to be seen again other times the shorts are more complex","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":240.56,"end_s":247.12,"text":"or harder to get at if there's liquid damage you might remove the short only","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":244.72,"end_s":252.319,"text":"to find another one then corrosion under the chips and so on and so forth the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":249.84,"end_s":256.959,"text":"worst is apparently milk now with any corrosion you start with a toothbrush if","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":255.04,"end_s":261.04,"text":"there's gunk under a chip you remove that chip and replace it if the board is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":259.28,"end_s":265.04,"text":"completely corroded you need to use an ultrasonic cleaner not necessarily a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":263.199,"end_s":269.36,"text":"super strong one you just want to get off as much of the gunk as you can so","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":266.96,"end_s":273.199,"text":"that you can start to look for shorts sometimes they're so bad though that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":271.44,"end_s":277.68,"text":"when you start with a soft toothbrush you will literally have components just","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":275.28,"end_s":282.8,"text":"crumbling off the board and in cases like that you might end up doing a full","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":280.72,"end_s":288.32,"text":"chip swap where you are basically rebuilding the phone onto a donor device","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":286.24,"end_s":293.6,"text":"drive savers tries to source individual parts whether new or used but sometimes","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":291.199,"end_s":298.56,"text":"there's no other choice but to sacrifice a brand new device i mean look hey we","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":296.32,"end_s":302.32,"text":"told you data recovery ain't cheap right unfortunately","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":300.0,"end_s":307.919,"text":"yes it gets even worse aside from being a time consuming and risky operation on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":305.12,"end_s":312.16,"text":"components that are ridiculously fragile this chip swap method also has some","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":310.4,"end_s":315.12,"text":"major limitations unless they could break apple's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":313.52,"end_s":319.6,"text":"encryption which drive savers wouldn't do even if they could every component","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":317.28,"end_s":324.88,"text":"with apple's security measures baked in needs to be restored to at least a basic","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":322.16,"end_s":329.12,"text":"level of functionality the nand flash is what actually holds the data in an","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":326.479,"end_s":332.72,"text":"iphone so obviously we need that then there's the logic eprom which holds the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":331.12,"end_s":337.039,"text":"firmware of the device that thing is super small about the size","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":335.039,"end_s":340.08,"text":"of a large grain of salt and if it disappears your data recovery effort is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":339.12,"end_s":345.68,"text":"done and then finally there's the CPU that's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":342.96,"end_s":349.919,"text":"tied to the eeprom and to the nand flash so for any recovery effort to be","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":347.44,"end_s":355.039,"text":"successful it needs to be working or at least mostly working a pretty","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":352.72,"end_s":359.759,"text":"famous internal story at drive savers is about an ipad that was pulled from a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":356.96,"end_s":362.639,"text":"literal plane crash the board was so destroyed that it's a miracle they","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":361.199,"end_s":367.199,"text":"didn't just turn it away in the first place but after a full transplant as","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":365.28,"end_s":372.24,"text":"they call it they were actually able to get the device working enough that with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":370.0,"end_s":377.12,"text":"clamps on the device to apply a little bit of extra pressure on certain","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":374.319,"end_s":380.72,"text":"components and by emailing the data to themselves rather than trying to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":378.8,"end_s":384.639,"text":"transfer it over a cable which appeared to put too much strain on the CPU or","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":382.639,"end_s":388.8,"text":"something they were able to recover the needed flight recorder data one of their","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":386.639,"end_s":393.759,"text":"methods for these CPU transplants is rather ingenious i asked them why a cnc","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":392.0,"end_s":400.16,"text":"machine is part of their essential tool kit and it turns out that iphone 6 and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":396.88,"end_s":402.4,"text":"6s have the RAM on top of the CPU with","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":400.16,"end_s":406.4,"text":"glue surrounding them so if you use too much heat the RAM can't breathe and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":404.479,"end_s":411.919,"text":"it'll just pop or crack so get this depending on the device they","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":409.28,"end_s":416.639,"text":"can sometimes use the cnc to go in through the back precisely cutting away","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":414.479,"end_s":421.36,"text":"the logic board leaving only the exact dimensions of the CPU behind","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":418.88,"end_s":425.52,"text":"it's slower but it's a really clean way to do it and gives a higher success rate","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":423.52,"end_s":429.52,"text":"which is the most important thing they often prep their donor boards in the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":427.12,"end_s":434.639,"text":"exact same way using their cnc from the top side to remove the CPU and RAM and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":432.319,"end_s":438.96,"text":"expose the pads then it's a matter of aligning the solder pads from the old","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":436.24,"end_s":443.039,"text":"chip onto the new donor board that is a tough thing to get just right i actually","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":441.199,"end_s":445.599,"text":"tried that once with a macbook chipset in new york and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":444.56,"end_s":449.759,"text":"well let's just say it's still dead","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":447.759,"end_s":453.44,"text":"fortunately drive savers is better at this stuff than i am and this kind of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":451.68,"end_s":457.28,"text":"careful methodology has resulted in successful full transplants on even","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":455.759,"end_s":460.8,"text":"devices that have been driven over multiple times on the highway there's","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":459.36,"end_s":466.08,"text":"one that was dropped down a multi-story garbage chute that they pulled off and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":463.44,"end_s":469.36,"text":"yes what i said before was true they actually managed to repair one where a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":467.759,"end_s":473.599,"text":"gorilla like a real actual gorilla got its hands on","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":472.0,"end_s":478.639,"text":"the device when it was dropped into a zoo enclosure ironically though after","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":476.319,"end_s":482.319,"text":"all this drivesaver's biggest message in this sponsored video is","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":480.479,"end_s":486.639,"text":"back up your data so we never have to recover it whether it's on icloud a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":484.56,"end_s":490.24,"text":"network storage device or a usb hard drive a second","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":488.479,"end_s":494.08,"text":"physically isolated copy of your important documents in media is the best","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":492.479,"end_s":496.72,"text":"insurance policy in the case of an unexpected disaster","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":495.919,"end_s":501.52,"text":"now common failures do come from user error","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":499.44,"end_s":506.08,"text":"like folks who think their device might be more waterproof than it is you know","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":503.52,"end_s":510.4,"text":"hey maybe if i just dip the the camera corner into the water drive savers has","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":508.08,"end_s":513.36,"text":"seen plenty of final videos like that but also don't trick yourself into","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":512.24,"end_s":516.159,"text":"thinking well i'm super careful it couldn't happen to","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":515.36,"end_s":520.959,"text":"me bad luck can happen to anyone and they've seen","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":519.12,"end_s":525.04,"text":"everything from phones that managed to slip through the crack in an elevator","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":522.88,"end_s":528.32,"text":"and fall all the way down the shaft to ones that fell out of a pocket and got","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":526.88,"end_s":532.24,"text":"stuck in the motorized reclining mechanism of a couch that's one that","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":530.24,"end_s":536.88,"text":"could easily happen to me my phone comes out of my pocket all the time their","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":534.32,"end_s":540.48,"text":"second message is to make sure that if you didn't pay attention to message one","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":538.88,"end_s":545.12,"text":"you're paying extra close attention to message two which is to only send your","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":542.48,"end_s":548.72,"text":"device to a trusted shop they've seen unrecoverable cases where if it wasn't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":547.279,"end_s":553.6,"text":"for the ineptitude of a previous technician it would have been fine a","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":551.44,"end_s":557.44,"text":"classic example of this is iphone 6 screen replacements they had a case","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":555.68,"end_s":561.519,"text":"where a shop put a poor quality home button on a 6s","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":559.68,"end_s":565.76,"text":"plugged it in and shorted a resistor that on one side went to the home button","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":563.519,"end_s":569.279,"text":"and on the other side went to the CPU they did manage to dig out that trace","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":567.6,"end_s":573.6,"text":"and replace it but even though it was such a simple error that story","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":571.36,"end_s":578.56,"text":"unfortunately ended in heartbreak drive saver's process is to use the device as","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":576.0,"end_s":582.64,"text":"intended so a dead CPU that's a no go there's no substitute for","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":580.64,"end_s":586.16,"text":"expertise and that's kind of hard to get unless you're dealing with a lot of","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":583.76,"end_s":591.12,"text":"devices an example of this one was a weird update in the fall of 2019 where","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":588.399,"end_s":595.92,"text":"particularly the seven plus would get stuck on the apple logo which on the","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":593.2,"end_s":600.0,"text":"surface smells like a logical problem but then after seeing a bunch of them","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":597.68,"end_s":605.44,"text":"drive savers figured out that there was a physical fix by shorting the speaker i","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":603.12,"end_s":609.839,"text":"see that would somehow bypass whatever that logical problem was","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":607.44,"end_s":614.0,"text":"so then if they grabbed all the data unshorted a particular resistor then","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":612.0,"end_s":616.64,"text":"performed a factory reset and restored the data back onto the phone it was","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":615.68,"end_s":622.079,"text":"golden logical problem weird physical","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":619.279,"end_s":626.48,"text":"workaround so bottom line back up your data and if you didn't give drive savers","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":624.64,"end_s":629.92,"text":"a call they're well worth the money and after being the first to recover data","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":628.24,"end_s":633.44,"text":"from one they have over a decade of experience recovering iphones they don't","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":631.92,"end_s":638.24,"text":"even charge you unless they actually recover your data the consult and even","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":635.68,"end_s":642.16,"text":"the shipping to them is free if you guys enjoyed this video you might","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":639.92,"end_s":647.04,"text":"also enjoy a look at drive saver's hard drive data recovery process it's very","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":644.8,"end_s":650.88,"text":"very different and equally fascinating we're gonna have that linked below and","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":648.959,"end_s":655.48,"text":"we did that video a long time ago so it i was actually able to physically be","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0},{"start_s":652.48,"end_s":655.48,"text":"there","speaker":null,"is_sponsor":0}],"full_text":"accidents happen and the team at drive savers deals with the fallout of a lot of accidents so they sponsored this video to tour their sick facility in california to show the process of recovering the data from mobile devices like iphones that have gone through everything from being dropped out of a moving car to being thrashed by a gorilla at the zoo to being literally destroyed in a plane crash this tour is gonna be a little different though because i'm actually in my studio at home due to travel restrictions but it'll still be really cool every phone recovery starts with educating the customer drive savers data recovery my name is dylan how can i help you now the average person might think that data recovery is similar to what the apple store might do but in reality it is very unusual for data recovery to be covered by any sort of manufacturer warranty and the process is totally different when you send a device in for repair it's much more economical for a company like apple to simply replace whatever is broken rather than spending long hours diagnosing and fixing board level faults now this would be fine except that they see components like the main board as one piece so if there's an issue with it or anything that's attached to it it's gone that means no data they operate this way because a manufacturer is only concerned with preventing devices from breaking it's uneconomical to try to fix them once they do which is why the most straightforward data recovery operations are often though not always the ones where the issue is logical rather than physical and no hardware actually needs to be changed and in order to make this process as smooth as possible drive savers has actually developed their own in-house tools to take out some of the guesswork something that they're now also using for t2 mac recovery so when a device arrives drive saver's first step is to give it a once over if it's boot looping in recovery mode or it powers on but won't actually boot up there's a good chance that they can connect it with a lightning cable and perform the recovery that way very convenient but also dangerous one of the most important parts of this discovery process is checking the voltage and amperage of the device certain readings might point to a particular chip that's failed which could result in a data loss if a logical recovery is attempted directly it all comes down to experience 0.8 amps or higher is typical but other readings can be a strong indicator that it's a physical issue and it's time to crack the casing open at this stage it's best to start by looking for simple problems like shorts on the motherboard this can be done by freezing the logic board with a cold spray and looking for areas that thaw too quickly indicating excess heat or thanks to the wonders of modern technology it can also be done with a thermal camera using this method even very small shorts can be identified although finding the source of the short can be an entirely separate issue some simple shorts are fixable failed resistors can be replaced and burnt traces can in some cases be repaired as long as the technician doesn't drink too much coffee ahead of time i actually asked drive savers what their most important tool is and i was surprised to hear them say really while the particular model comes down to personal preference everyone there agrees that it is absolutely essential that the ends line up really well otherwise you might be transferring a component to a board only to have it go flying out and good luck holding on to something like a micro jumper if the ends don't match up absolutely perfectly those puppies are thinner than a human hair and even the breeze from someone walking past can blow them away never to be seen again other times the shorts are more complex or harder to get at if there's liquid damage you might remove the short only to find another one then corrosion under the chips and so on and so forth the worst is apparently milk now with any corrosion you start with a toothbrush if there's gunk under a chip you remove that chip and replace it if the board is completely corroded you need to use an ultrasonic cleaner not necessarily a super strong one you just want to get off as much of the gunk as you can so that you can start to look for shorts sometimes they're so bad though that when you start with a soft toothbrush you will literally have components just crumbling off the board and in cases like that you might end up doing a full chip swap where you are basically rebuilding the phone onto a donor device drive savers tries to source individual parts whether new or used but sometimes there's no other choice but to sacrifice a brand new device i mean look hey we told you data recovery ain't cheap right unfortunately yes it gets even worse aside from being a time consuming and risky operation on components that are ridiculously fragile this chip swap method also has some major limitations unless they could break apple's encryption which drive savers wouldn't do even if they could every component with apple's security measures baked in needs to be restored to at least a basic level of functionality the nand flash is what actually holds the data in an iphone so obviously we need that then there's the logic eprom which holds the firmware of the device that thing is super small about the size of a large grain of salt and if it disappears your data recovery effort is done and then finally there's the CPU that's tied to the eeprom and to the nand flash so for any recovery effort to be successful it needs to be working or at least mostly working a pretty famous internal story at drive savers is about an ipad that was pulled from a literal plane crash the board was so destroyed that it's a miracle they didn't just turn it away in the first place but after a full transplant as they call it they were actually able to get the device working enough that with clamps on the device to apply a little bit of extra pressure on certain components and by emailing the data to themselves rather than trying to transfer it over a cable which appeared to put too much strain on the CPU or something they were able to recover the needed flight recorder data one of their methods for these CPU transplants is rather ingenious i asked them why a cnc machine is part of their essential tool kit and it turns out that iphone 6 and 6s have the RAM on top of the CPU with glue surrounding them so if you use too much heat the RAM can't breathe and it'll just pop or crack so get this depending on the device they can sometimes use the cnc to go in through the back precisely cutting away the logic board leaving only the exact dimensions of the CPU behind it's slower but it's a really clean way to do it and gives a higher success rate which is the most important thing they often prep their donor boards in the exact same way using their cnc from the top side to remove the CPU and RAM and expose the pads then it's a matter of aligning the solder pads from the old chip onto the new donor board that is a tough thing to get just right i actually tried that once with a macbook chipset in new york and well let's just say it's still dead fortunately drive savers is better at this stuff than i am and this kind of careful methodology has resulted in successful full transplants on even devices that have been driven over multiple times on the highway there's one that was dropped down a multi-story garbage chute that they pulled off and yes what i said before was true they actually managed to repair one where a gorilla like a real actual gorilla got its hands on the device when it was dropped into a zoo enclosure ironically though after all this drivesaver's biggest message in this sponsored video is back up your data so we never have to recover it whether it's on icloud a network storage device or a usb hard drive a second physically isolated copy of your important documents in media is the best insurance policy in the case of an unexpected disaster now common failures do come from user error like folks who think their device might be more waterproof than it is you know hey maybe if i just dip the the camera corner into the water drive savers has seen plenty of final videos like that but also don't trick yourself into thinking well i'm super careful it couldn't happen to me bad luck can happen to anyone and they've seen everything from phones that managed to slip through the crack in an elevator and fall all the way down the shaft to ones that fell out of a pocket and got stuck in the motorized reclining mechanism of a couch that's one that could easily happen to me my phone comes out of my pocket all the time their second message is to make sure that if you didn't pay attention to message one you're paying extra close attention to message two which is to only send your device to a trusted shop they've seen unrecoverable cases where if it wasn't for the ineptitude of a previous technician it would have been fine a classic example of this is iphone 6 screen replacements they had a case where a shop put a poor quality home button on a 6s plugged it in and shorted a resistor that on one side went to the home button and on the other side went to the CPU they did manage to dig out that trace and replace it but even though it was such a simple error that story unfortunately ended in heartbreak drive saver's process is to use the device as intended so a dead CPU that's a no go there's no substitute for expertise and that's kind of hard to get unless you're dealing with a lot of devices an example of this one was a weird update in the fall of 2019 where particularly the seven plus would get stuck on the apple logo which on the surface smells like a logical problem but then after seeing a bunch of them drive savers figured out that there was a physical fix by shorting the speaker i see that would somehow bypass whatever that logical problem was so then if they grabbed all the data unshorted a particular resistor then performed a factory reset and restored the data back onto the phone it was golden logical problem weird physical workaround so bottom line back up your data and if you didn't give drive savers a call they're well worth the money and after being the first to recover data from one they have over a decade of experience recovering iphones they don't even charge you unless they actually recover your data the consult and even the shipping to them is free if you guys enjoyed this video you might also enjoy a look at drive saver's hard drive data recovery process it's very very different and equally fascinating we're gonna have that linked below and we did that video a long time ago so it i was actually able to physically be there"}