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How can I completely erase data from my Android phone before selling?

I got a new iPhone 7 and wanna sell my old Android galaxy 5, so, my concern is whether the simple deleted data can be easily recovered by some data recovery tools, because there are many sensitive data on my old galaxy 5. So, i wanna know if it's necessary to completely erase data on Andorid before selling? and how?
PS: does factory reset can completely erase the data without recovery?

factory reset should be totally enough.

DeeZZ_NuuZZ said:
factory reset should be totally enough.
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the data can be accessed by data recovery software with only a single factory reset. There is a CNET post about this. A more secure way is writing random data to the phone to overwrite the current device. You can see more details from this guide: how to safely erase android phone

A few steps.
1. Factory Reset.
2. After Factory Reset, go through with setup to be able to accept Files from your PC.
3. Copy and Paste Junk Files, Pictures, Audio, or whatever isn't important if accessed at all, but Move onto Phone MORE DATA than what was there before which Overwrites All of Your Previous stuff.
4. Do Another Factory Reset.
Now, your Phone is Safe to Sell.

S1ikIfy said:
the data can be accessed by data recovery software with only a single factory reset. There is a CNET post about this.
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so, if the factory reset can't wipe Android completely, do you have a great way to erase data from Android phone without recovery possibility?

Is there a way to recover data from an S7 after a factory reset?

So a friend of mine recently factory resetted her S7 after she couldn't unlock it. But in doing so she didnt know all her data would be gone. She had tons of photos and videos that she liked and now they are all gone.
Is there a way to recover all that data? Or is it lost forever?

Maybe from Google photos if setup backup. Maybe this is stolen phone, not hers? Anyway only from backup, internal memory is encrypted.
메가 서명.

Edit.
Oops. At least I wasn't the original bumper lol.

How can you factory reset your phone which the phone is locked up? in TWRP?
You should have made a backup or mount your phone to PC in TWRP before factory resetting.

When encryption isn't an option?

Hello all i have a bush spira b2 tablet that I'm looking to sell. Most places online say to encrypt then factory reset before a sale.
The tablet is running android 6 and I can't find the option to encrypt in the security settings (the manual says it should be there) the credentials is set as hardware-backed and this can't be changed.
With all that being said and me lacking the option to encrypt what does that leave me with to wipe my data?
I know a standard factory reset won't cut it but what if I
Factory reset>filled up memory 100% with random files > Factory reset > filled up 100%> factory reset.
Would that do the trick and leave no data whatsoever?

could the option to encrypt be missing as android 6 is doing this already? or should that still show up? or maybe i encrypted it earlier but surely a factory reset would show this option after?
EDIT. just ran a factory reset and mid process it said please wait while your tablet is being encrypted? it must do it automatically.
what are your guys thoughts and should i still fill up the memory after the reset?

junggly said:
could the option to encrypt be missing as android 6 is doing this already? or should that still show up? or maybe i encrypted it earlier but surely a factory reset would show this option after?
EDIT. just ran a factory reset and mid process it said please wait while your tablet is being encrypted? it must do it automatically.
what are your guys thoughts and should i still fill up the memory after the reset?
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Your phone must have been encrypted from new, which means you can't remove encryption it will always be encrypted (as far as I know). Now you are encrypting it again your old data should be unrecoverable.

Selling my S6 - How can I complete wipe everything on the device?

Hey,
I want to completely wipe my Samsung S6 before I sell it/giver it away, so that when the new user won't find anything when they scan the device for deleted files.
What's the best way to achieve this?
I figured Encrypting my device and doing a factory reset or wipe within TWRP would suffice, but does it? Has anybody achieved a completely clean device and how?

freekystar said:
Hey,
I want to completely wipe my Samsung S6 before I sell it/giver it away, so that when the new user won't find anything when they scan the device for deleted files.
What's the best way to achieve this?
I figured Encrypting my device and doing a factory reset or wipe within TWRP would suffice, but does it? Has anybody achieved a completely clean device and how?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IShredder works for me.. Or just do it oldschool.. Delete and factory reset. Stuff your phone with crap files to overwrite old files and do that as many times as you feel safe and done.. And if you want to experiment with it try to use some recovery software after to see if you got rid of everything

Horgyboy said:
IShredder works for me.. Or just do it oldschool.. Delete and factory reset. Stuff your phone with crap files to overwrite old files and do that as many times as you feel safe and done.. And if you want to experiment with it try to use some recovery software after to see if you got rid of everything
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Click to collapse
I think that only works for traditional hard drives rather than on flash memory (SSD/NAND) -- It would seem to me encrypting and factory reset/full wipe in TWRP would work better.
Installing stock firmware encrypts the phone, factory reset/full wipe to completely wipe the data including the key that unlocks the data and doing that another time would probably make data inaccessible especially after a time of use.
AFAIK custom roms are usually not encrypted to allow root to be installed.
I could be wrong however... Has anybody got experience using this method?

The phone needs to be encrypted first before performing a factory reset. Factory reset will make it look like all data has been deleted but actually personal info like photos, texts, emails etc will still be stored in memory and just marked as deleted. This means they can be quite easily restored if someone decides to use a data recovery tool on your phone once it's out of your hands. Both data encryption and factory reset can be done easily from the phone's settings. Data encryption is in the Lock Screen and Security section. Reset can also be done remotely from the findmymobile.samsung website

deleted app "google" - am I stuffed?!

In an attempt to remove the annoying space-hogging "ok google" widget along with its microphone spying I deleted what I thought was the app for that, called "google".
Doh!
So now the phone doesn't start, never gets past the childish image of stitching.
So.. can I somehow flash this app back onto the phone without losing the data that's on it?
(I'm thinking I'm probably stuffed - the only images I can find require a factory reset first as per here (https://forum.xda-developers.com/2015-moto-g/general/guide-fastboot-flashing-factory-t3187750), in which case I might aswell just try lineage)
thanks all
ps - it's a motog osprey XT1541.

lockedout55555 said:
So.. can I somehow flash this app back onto the phone without losing the data that's on it?
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Click to collapse
Or perhaps just recover the data despite not being able to start the device, such that I can restore it after then wiping & reflashing?