"Though the Android phone have been thoroughly wiped via factory reset, but it still possible to recover a lot of private data." - Avast wrote in its report.
When we sell our old Android phone or give it to someone as a gift, we either manually delete the data or perform a simple Factory Reset. The problem is that it is not the most effective solution. It is easy to recover data after Factory Reset. It was proved that returning Android devices to factory settings doesn't actually wipe them clean. Security firm Avast purchased twenty factory-wiped Android devices on eBay, with some data recovery software, they simply recovered most of personal information like email, contacts, photos, text messages and more.
Manually deleting each piece of data individually is tiresome and utterly wasteful. If you are handing the phone over to someone or simply need to get rid of all the data on your device, you will want a way to delete all of it at once. There is a lot to be removed on a phone that has been in use for a long period of time: Documents, pictures, videos, text messages, and so much more. So, to wipe out everything from the Android device, you can perform the factory reset.
Take Backup: It is highly recommended that you take the backup of the data in case you need to recover something. You can review the backed up data later and if remove those items that you would never use again.
1) Open Settings on Android
2) Select Backup & Reset under ‘Personal' section
3) Select ‘Back up my data'
4) Make sure you have chosen the right account for backup.
1) Open Settings on Android.
2) Under ‘Personal' select ‘Backup & reset'.
3) Under the section ‘Personal Data' select ‘Factory data rest'.
4) Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the reset process.
Your phone will reboot to the original factory settings and everything will be removed from the device including the photos, videos or any other data saved in the internal memory. Unfortunately , all data that has been put on it or saved is recoverable. in fact, a factory reset isn't a factory reset, and sell your mobile at your own risk.
Well, it may seem that the above method will take care of everything for you. You will have all the data removed from your phone and no one will be able to get it back. But, this is very far from the truth. Factory Reset is not the perfect solution for a few reasons outlined below:
Reason 1: Data is still recoverable:
You will be surprised to know that even after factory reset the data can still be recovered. Do you know why? Because when the files are removed from any storage device the space gets cleared up but their information still remains in those sectors where they were saved. After deletion those sectors are rewritten when you save something new. But, until they are overwritten they can easily recovered using an Android recovery tool. This is why we must not get complacent that our information will be safe after recovery.
Reason 2: External memory (SD card) is not deleted:
Another reason why Factory reset is not the right solution is that it does not completely erase the data from the SD card. You need to format SD card separately. Again, even if you format the SD card, the information can still be recovered using the Android recovery tool.
Most data recovery programs can very easily scan and recover your data. See how Android data recovery software scans and recovers your messages after you deleted or factory reset.
So, it is pretty much clear that we need more than just the factory reset to get rid of the data permanently. We have a solution for you. Let's take a look below.
Worried that your data is recoverable even after the Factory Reset? We have a solution for you in the form of Android Data Eraser. This is an incredible data wiping application that makes sure not can be recovered once your Android has been wiped clean.
So, the question is – what different does Android Data Eraser do? As aforementioned, even when the files are deleted, the sector on the storage device in which they were stored still keeps the information until it is overwritten. Android Data Eraser tool first deletes everything from the storage. Once done, it rewrites the deleted sector with the military wiping algorithm. One of the most popular is DoD 5220.22M, which specifies three passes with mandatory verification This is how it makes sure that nothing can be retrieved.
Don't miss: How to permanently delete photos from Android.
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To start with, download the program on your computer, then open the installed software, and then get your Android phone connected to the computer via the USB cord. The main screen is shown as the following:
Once your Android phone was identified successfully by the program, you can start to wipe your Android phone. Just select "Erase All Data" button on the left. It will shows all of the already deleted and existing data.
When you click the Erase button on the program, you will be asked to select a wiping method in the pop up window, then type the Erase word in the box. and cofnirm to erase. Finally, just wait for the process to get completed within a little while.
To completely erase your data from your device, you can select the high security level to to wipe your device. This security standard is based on the U.S DoD S220.22 M.
Now, the program is erasing your all data on device, you must keep your phone connecting to PC. It will take a few minuets based on the data of your device. After the erase, your phone will restart normally.
If you want to resell or discard your Android device and you just perform a factory reset, then there are risks of data recovery and stolen because simply restoring to factory settings won't be enough to really protect your data, It actually overwriting all blocks of data.Someone with criminal intent aware of this issue might use some data recovery to gain access to your personal data like login details, password, photos, messages you've used on your device.
So, factory reset won't delete everything on Android phone, to keep your data safe, you can use Android Data Eraser. It removes everything permanently and irrecoverably.
