Wiping a Compact Flash Card

[Don Thompson]

I am giving a 16GB compact flash card to someone and want to make certain they cannot access my photos. Any suggestions for software to be able to do that?

Thanks.

[James Shadle]

I use ccleaner. It's free and has a drive wiper.
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

Simple Over-Write 1 Pass
DOD 3 Passes
NSN 7 Passes
GUTMANN 35 Passes

[Don Thompson]

Thanks James, I will give it a try. I'm sure the 1 pass is more than adequate. In this case, I just want to do more than a simple format.

[Alan Eicoff]

???? - Wouldn't just reformatting the card in camera permanently destroy any image data from the card and then they would have to format the card for their camera.

[Don Thompson]

A single format will not permanently destroy the image. After formatting you can still recover image using software provided with many memory cards. I have been able to recover photos many months and formats later.

I'm not sure about them needing to format the card for their camera, but the first thing I do with any new memory card is to format it in my camera before using it. I also format after downloading any photos I have taken.

[Alan Eicoff]

A single format will not permanently destroy the image. After formatting you can still recover image using software provided with many memory cards. I have been able to recover photos many months and formats later.

I'm not sure about them needing to format the card for their camera, but the first thing I do with any new memory card is to format it in my camera before using it. I also format after downloading any photos I have taken.

Thanks Don - good to know. I always format the card in camera after downloading my images but was under the impression that it permanently destroyed the images. Never too late to learn something new!

[Chris Ober]

If you're a Mac user, the Disk Utility app that's included with the OS has a secure erase option for volumes.

Thanks Don - good to know. I always format the card in camera after downloading my images but was under the impression that it permanently destroyed the images.

If you want to see what all can be recovered after only a formatting, http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec (cross platform) and http://www.piriform.com/recuva are both free apps you can experiment with. Good apps to keep handy in case you really need them too.

[David Gancarz]

@Don: In addition to Mr. Shadle's suggestion you might also take a look at http://www.x-ways.net/winhex/. The personal (free) version supports various DoD data sanitization methods; e.g. overwriting data with random bits. Be careful though; it is irreversible.

[Cheryle Sytsma]

I use ccleaner. It's free and has a drive wiper.
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

Simple Over-Write 1 Pass
DOD 3 Passes
NSN 7 Passes
GUTMANN 35 Passes

James...
what do these Pass symbols mean, please?
DOD, NSN, GUTMANN... thanks

[Chris Ober]

I wouldn't worry about anything other than the 1-pass. It'll be more than enough.

One link for reference:
http://www.upenn.edu/computing/secur...data_clear.php

How may overwrites are required to make the data unrecoverable?

A one-pass overwrite with random data is sufficient. Based on a report from NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) and research done by the UCSD Center for Magnetic Recording Research, a single overwrite is nearly as effective as multiple overwrites. Multiple overwrites take significantly more time, and do not clear the remaining electromagnetic signal significantly better than a single overwrite. For more information, see NIST Special Publication 800-88 and the Center for Magnetic Recording Research.

[Ed Cordes]

I would use Ccleaner or Acronis to completely erase the card. Acronis will make several passes and delete the info to FBI ecurity standards.

[Andrey Chernushow]

I am giving a 16GB compact flash card to someone and want to make certain they cannot access my photos. Any suggestions for software to be able to do that?

Thanks.

Try this : https://hetmanrecovery.com/download/...n_recovery.exe