HP Pavilion 15S-FQ4008TU Data Recovery with PM991a MZ-VLQ1T0B Internal SSD

The HP Pavilion 15S-FQ4008TU uses a Samsung PM991a MZ-VLQ1T0B NVMe SSD, a DRAM-less drive that can present serious challenges when data recovery is needed.

HP Pavilion 15S-FQ4008TU data recovery

Common Issues with PM991a SSDs:

  1. Controller Failure – The SSD may stop responding entirely, making it invisible to the system.
  2. Bad Blocks – NAND wear can cause read errors, leading to slow performance or complete failure.
  3. Firmware Corruption – Firmware-level issues can make the SSD undetectable, even in recovery tools.
  4. Limited Recovery Options – This SSD is a monolithic design, meaning traditional chip-off recovery is not possible.

Samsung PM991a MZ-VLQ1T0B Data Recovery

If your HP Pavilion 15S-FQ4008TU is not booting or the SSD has stopped working, power it off immediately to prevent further damage.

Case Log

30Jan2025 - Opened laptop and removed SSD. It is significantly degraded, with many bad sectors and low speed while imaging.

HP Pavilion 15S-FQ4008TU inside data recovery

31Jan2025 - SSD hit a particularly bad region while imaging and is no longer detected, with very high temperatures in a region on the monolith. The external power management circuits are OK. The controller has failed.