Quickies May 21, 2008

Solved! – How To Remove All Private iPhone Data

Gear Diary Solved! How To Remove All Private iPhone Data photo

Yesterday morning we reported that some of your iPhone data was nearly impossible to erase. This issue was discovered when someone purchased a refurbished iPhone and using special software was able to read personal information from an area of the iPhone that should have been empty. Several people wondered aloud if there was any way to wipe all the data off their iPhone prior to selling it on eBay or returning it to an Apple Store. Web site Securosis.com has detailed instructions on “formatting” an iPhone to wipe data. It involves filling it to capacity to force old data off. Here are the partial instructions (check out their web site at the link below for the full article):

For those of you that aren’t just convincing your spouse to take your “old” iPhone off your hands to justify that new toy, Securosis presents a simple process to minimize the chances of a recovery. It’s not perfect, but it’s easy and should offer enough protection for those of you forced to eBay your once-precious-but-now-obsolete device:

1. Restore the iPhone from within iTunes.
2. On the “Info” tab, un-check all options so you don’t synchronize calendars, email, bookmarks, and contacts.
3. On the Photos, Podcasts, and Video tabs, uncheck “Sync …”.
4. Create 3 big playlists with at least as many songs as the storage capacity of your iPhone.
5. On the Music tab, select the first of your 3 playlists to sync. Make sure the storage bar at the bottom looks full after syncing.
6. Sync your iPhone, change to the next playlist, sync again, and repeat one last time.

This will hopefully overwrite any of the free space on your phone, helping preventing recovery of any of those love letters and bad jokes lingering from old emails.

Link: Securosis – “Formatting” An iPhone To Wipe Data via: Engadget

Tags: Apple iPhone, Mobile Phones

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About Wayne Schulz

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Wayne is a diehard Blackberry user and consultant specializing in Sage MAS90 Accounting Software. He lives in Glastonbury CT with his two children. When not helping them with their homework or pushing the latest school fundraiser off on his co-workers, he is active hiking, Scuba Diving and investigating all manner of technology.

Chris Magnusson

NSA recommends seven wipes.
http://www.geardiary.com Allen Hong

And the severely paranoid would want to do it 35 or more times.
step21

What’s the big fuss about? I’m pretty certain that would apply to most other phones as well, (maybe even more, cause it’s even harder to access some?) and quite some resold computers as well. But I guess that’s iphone reverse hype or what ever you wanna call it.
http://twitter.com/feenstuh/status/20590346033 Brad Heitmeyer

An interesting article on how to erase data from your iPhone permanently. For you naughty buggers. http://bit.ly/b8l8eF
123

When the new person gets the phone and starts it up, they will see all your personal data. Dont be a noob and make sure you follow the instructions. Dont listen to the retards making comments who know nothing about what the issue is.