Ensure files are permanently deleted from SD Card

Goldust

Hi,

I'm selling my moible phone and I want to give the SD Card that came with it in the box.

I've deleted everything from it but how can I make sure it is all permanently deleted? I had a few documents on there I wouldn't want anyone to be able to recover.

What's the quickest, safest way to do this? I assume if I copy a file to the card that fills it, that would do the job but I'm sure there is a more technical solution!

spakkker

Use this - http://majorgeeks.com/Eraser_d4221.html

aliEnRIK

CCLEANER now has the option to do this

bwd

It has been suggested by some sources that you should format any media approx 7 times before you can be entirely entirely sure that no data can be recovered from it.

roddydogs

Why not just buy a new card and sell it with that

---

Their cheap as chips nowadays. Plus you could have saved the data for a new phone.!

aerostar

bwd wrote: »

It has been suggested by some sources that you should format any media approx 7 times before you can be entirely entirely sure that no data can be recovered from it.

Would suggest not necessary for SD cards as the memory storage is done in a different way to magnetic platters on hard disc.

Once would be enough on an SD card.

PsiDOC

Not quite.
The deletion method for all FAT32 and NTFS storage devices is to simply mark the area of the data as free space. The data is still there no matter how many times you delete from the card.
What you need to do is using a card reader connected to your PC low level format the card. What this does is write 0 or FF to all locations on the card thus totally erasing the data. You can for piece of mind do this as many times as you like.
There is a free utility to do this on the link below:
http://hddguru.com/software/2006.04.12-HDD-Low-Level-Format-Tool/

Be warned though make sure you select the card reader and not your hard drive else there is a possibility you could wipe your PC's hard drive!

After low level formatting you will need to format the card to be used by your phone but you can do this easily via windows.

Psi

forgotmyname

Format deletes nothing though. All the data is still there waiting to be recovered with the right software.

Only way is either use a program to write data to every sector or just copy a few files over and over until the device
is full.

kwikbreaks

If the data is so confidential it absolutely must not be accessed by someone else then storing it on the SD card in a phone is a pretty stupid thing to do in the first place....

The increment in auction price of a phone +SD over plain phone is as close to naff all makes no difference so why not keep it (or burn it and dissolve the ashes in acid if really paranoid).

JJ_Egan

Format it erase it then smash it to pieces dispose of in varying places . But dont get pari noid . jje