u/tmarva_

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to understand if I still have a chance of recovering data from an SSD after a series of events.

Device:

• SSD: Gigabyte GP-GSTFS31480GNTD 480GB
• Controller: Phison PS3111-S11
• Original issue: drive became stuck in SATAFIRM S11 state and was no longer functioning normally.

What happened:

1. The SSD failed and started showing as SATAFIRM S11.
2. I used Phison Flash ID and identified:
   • Controller: PS3111
   • Firmware family: SBFMP1.3
3. I used an S11 firmware repair/flashing tool and flashed SBFMP1.3_21102020.BIN.
4. The SSD came back to life and is now detected properly as:
   • Gigabyte GP-GSTFS31480GNTD
   • CrystalDiskInfo shows:
     • Health: 100%
     • 0 host writes
     • 0 hours
     • Firmware: SBFMP1.3
5. Windows then prompted me to initialize the disk in Disk Management.
6. I selected GPT initialization (I did NOT create partitions, format, or install anything afterward).
7. I almost installed Linux to the drive but stopped before any installation happened.

Current situation:

I connected the SSD to another PC and started a DMDE Full Scan:

• NTFS
• FAT
• exFAT
• ExtFS
• RAW signatures enabled

No writing has been done after GPT initialization.

Questions:

• Did GPT initialization likely overwrite only the partition structures or could it have caused more damage?
• Is there a possibility TRIM already wiped data?
• Since the drive had previously been stuck in SATAFIRM S11 state, could firmware failure have prevented TRIM from executing normally?
• Is DMDE the right approach here or should I stop immediately and clone the SSD first?
• Does reflashing an S11 SSD itself reduce recovery chances?

I understand SSD recovery is much harder than HDD recovery due to FTL/TRIM behavior, but I'm trying to determine whether I still have a realistic chance before doing anything else.

Thanks.

I’m not an expert and I may be misunderstanding parts of what I wrote. I followed guides and advice while trying to save the drive, so please let me know if I’m making wrong assumptions.

EDIT: At the time I flashed it, I believed the SSD itself was the goal. I was trying to get a functional drive again after seeing SATAFIRM S11 and following common repair videos/tutorials. I was told only afterwards that the data on it (old family videos) was actually important.