Our smartphone is our go-to for everything : staying in touch with the people we love, entertainment, learning, working, booking appointments, finding our way, and sometimes even finding love. So when this loyal companion starts showing signs of trouble, we go looking for the most reliable solutions to save our device, or at least recover its data. App data, photos and videos, certain messages – in short, anything not stored online risks being lost forever. Fortunately, there is a technique for recovering data from the NAND chip of your iPhone 7 Plus (model A1784) : chip transplantation.

Why choose chip transplantation ?

Since 2016, the chips containing the NAND memory built into phones such as the iPhone 7 Plus have been encrypted using a key. This means it’s impossible to read them the way you would read an SD card : if your phone’s chip becomes unreadable due to a fault on the motherboard, for example caused by humidity or your iPhone 7 Plus being dropped in water, the process of recovering your data becomes far more complex. While Apple’s intention was to prevent data theft, this nonetheless creates a problem when it comes to recovering your own data ! By choosing chip transplantation, you avoid having to go through other, generally inconclusive methods that will take up a great deal of your time and end up costing you a small fortune in labour. 

How does this method work ? 

The NAND chip in your iPhone 7 Plus (model A1784) contains numerous files :

  • Your personal data, such as photos or videos not stored on a cloud
  • The boot, which allows the device’s operating system to start up
  • The system configuration

Generally speaking, these are the things people try to recover in order to transfer them to their next phone. With chip transplantation, recovery becomes possible even if the motherboard is dead : it “simply” involves moving the processor and memory to a working motherboard, avoiding the need to attempt a motherboard repair with an uncertain success rate. To attempt this technique, all that’s needed is the password for your iPhone 7 Plus, as it forms part of the key encrypting the data.

When to choose this data recovery method

If you’ve already taken your iPhone 7 Plus to the Apple Store, if you’ve attempted a motherboard repair or a complete deoxidation of the phone to try to bring it back to life, but without any success, chip transplantation can still help you ! As long as the chip hasn’t been damaged during these repair attempts, the operation remains possible. Of course, it will always be more worthwhile to start with this option in order to save time and money, and to avoid the risk of losing your data for good through risky handling. 

Benefits and risks

Transplantation is far more effective than attempting a motherboard repair : with a data recovery success rate of around 80 %, you have a good chance of soon getting back the best photos of your cat taken with your iPhone 7 Plus. This procedure does not allow recovery of data present on your motherboard, so remember to back up your contacts regularly to avoid losing important entries. The original motherboard will be destroyed in the process in order to remove the processor and memory : if you choose this option, it’s because it was already in bad shape, so you’re not losing much. If your iPhone 7 Plus has no other irreparably damaged components, it’s possible to simply place the donor motherboard, used as the new medium for the chip to read and modify the data, into your phone or into a new compatible phone in order to recover your entire user profile. Chip transplantation is the safest recovery method, but it must be carried out by professionals : if the NAND chip overheats, it can be permanently damaged, as it is heat-sensitive. If this happens, your data will unfortunately be lost. That’s why you should always turn to a reliable, well-reputed company such as Chronodisk, which guarantees an optimal service to recover your most precious files with complete peace of mind.