It started with an honest mistake. This customer's wife dropped the iPhone in the yard without realizing it. He hopped on the riding lawnmower for a routine cut, and on one fateful pass, the blades found the phone before he did. The result: a completely shredded device and serious damage to the internal components.
He wasn't immediately worried. After all, everything was in the cloud, right? Wrong. The phone hadn't been backed up in four years. Four years of photos, messages, contacts, and memories, all trapped inside a device that had just been through a lawnmower.
Our certified engineers were able to recover every single file from the destroyed iPhone.
Destroyed iPhone 14 Crushed by a Lawnmower
The damage was extensive. A shattered screen, a split case, and a smoking, punctured battery were the first signs of hardware failure. The customer collected what was left of the iPhone from the lawn, disposed of the battery, and then called Secure Data Recovery for help.
Our engineers diagnosed the device when it arrived at one of our state-of-the-art labs.
Can Data Be Recovered From Broken iPhone?
A skilled engineer can recover data from a broken iPhone with the right tools and techniques. Even one that went through the deck of a riding lawnmower.
“Choosing a professional service is crucial for cases with a lot of physical damage,” according to Kirill Rymko, director of engineering at Secure Data Recovery. “We have experience, tools, and parts that a local repair shop does not. They may say your data is gone even if it isn’t.”
An event that tears a device’s logic board into pieces often requires chip-off recovery. Since iPhones have robust hardware encryption, the controller and the internal storage must have matching identifiers. Without the original processor, the data inside the flash memory cells is a block of ciphertext. No one will be able to read stored data.
Chip-off recovery is incredibly complex. A single error during the rework can lead to permanent data loss.
In these cases, we have the equipment and expertise to retrieve data from the NAND chip on the iPhone’s logic board.
Chip-Off Data Recovery for iPhone
Our team reviewed the diagnostic results with the customer, detailed the process, discussed payment, and received approval.
To recover data from the iPhone, we needed to rebuild the Ball Grid Array (BGA). This package connects all chips across the logic board. Extracting chips from the woven fiberglass involves heating them to a certain temperature for safe removal. Finally, the chips are reflowed and resoldered onto a new board.
“The margin for error for BGA soldering is basically zero. A small mistake can result in torn pads or cause a short on the chip. That can result in damage that can destroy the chips permanently. If that happens, your data is lost forever. You only get one chance in chip-off recovery. You have to make it count,” Kirill said.
A Complete Success
In the end, we recovered 100% of the damaged iPhone’s data for the customer.
They did not lose any photos or videos. Each of those memories survived the disaster. In addition, our technicians salvaged the iPhone’s contacts, messages, notes, and more.
We transferred the recovered files to an encrypted external hard drive to protect the sensitive data in transit. It included an image of the device that could restore the iPhone to moments before the accident.
What To Do With a Physically Damaged iPhone
Proceed with caution if an iPhone has sustained severe physical damage. Whether your phone met a lawnmower, a car tire, or another impact, your immediate response makes a difference.
Here’s what we tell people who call us for data recovery services:
- Leave the iPhone powered off.
- Do not plug the device in due to potential fire hazards.
- Do not attempt to repair it yourself, given the iPhone’s hardware encryption.
- Collect every fragment of the device and place them in an anti-static bag.
- Follow proper shipping and packaging instructions.
Contact an Apple Authorized Service Provider to repair damage and recover data from a damaged iPhone.
Timothy Burlee
Timothy Burlee is a content writer for Secure Data Recovery Services. He specializes in various topics in the data industry, including data recovery technology, storage devices, and digital forensics. Throughout his career, he has covered complex concepts and provided accessible solutions for users. Before joining Secure Data, he worked as a freelance technical writer.
.png){kind=small}
