Im going to send my Inc in for a return.. Just curious if its possible to recover any data after I wipe the phone? Does the phone do a secure wipe or is the data still there just waiting to be overwritten?
I have always just assumed they recondition these upon receipt. Guess I never put much thought into it. I assumed if you did a factory reset that is was a secure wipe.... On another note, why are you sending it back? For exchange or flat out return and cancel?
Recovering deleted info from flash memory is definitely possible, just like with hard drives. There are recovery programs designed for flash recovery. I don't know where the info is stored (contacts for example) on the Incredible and if that area is even accessible without a rooted phone. But, if that area is accessible, you could plug the phone into your computer and use a data wiping program. Those more familiar with the android operating system and rooting should know.
Unless you use aftermarket software to scramble the data, someone could theoretically get user data after a wipe. The easiest way I have found to hide my data permanently is to- 1. wipe data 2. load useless data until storage device is full 3. wipe data -repeat until you are less paranoid. I have found usually 3 cycles of this is 100% overlap of all existing data; the theory is that anyone can retrieve wiped data which has been recently "wiped" because it is essentially just placed into the "to-be-overwritten" partition, which will remain in tact and retrievable until it has been overwritten by something, something big usually is most effective. e.g. When I broke up with my X I asked for my pc back and my x-girlfriend wiped/formatted my pc's hard drive after we broke up- because it was a recent format, I was able to retrieve EVERYTHING that had been formatted. Everything. (except the files which were overwritten due to reinstalling a fresh windows os- which was only about 1GB). Oh yes and I forgot to ADD that Cell Phone Carriers are supposed to "factory reset"/"wipe" all returned phones upon receiving from users- that's policy. So in reality, unless you are a criminal or a secret agent hiding your data from cell phone carrier is ridiculous, they aren't going to investigate your phone data, now, if you are a criminal or secret agent and the FBI gets your phone, then you might be in trouble- but I believe even my method can thwart the FBI.
If you are a secret agent you'd throw the ****er away or burn it beyond all recognition and not send it back to Verizon. Back to the OP, they probably don't give a rat's ass about your data. Just wipe it and stop worrying.
