A shorted capacitor killed a 32 GB SD card. Yevgeniy Kapishon of Aeson Labs recovered the data by finding and removing two failed MLCC capacitors buried inside a monolithic package, restoring the card to full operation.
The diagnosis required an X-ray machine and a thermal camera. Because modern monolithic SD cards have no exposed PCB components, standard visual inspection is useless. Overlaying the thermal hot spot onto the X-ray image pinpointed the fault near the package edge. Careful material removal exposed the two capacitors, both shorted across the power rail. Removing them cleared the short immediately.
Shorted MLCCs are one of the most common passive failure modes across all electronics, and this case shows the flash memory and controller survive the event intact. The full writeup at Aeson Labs details the exact diagnostic sequence, tooling, and material removal technique, which is the part worth reading if you ever face a card that measures dead on the supply rail but shows no obvious physical damage.
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