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How to destroy data on a micro SD card? (memory card destruction)
I have an unreadable micro sd card which had personal details like passport and pan card scanned copies. Now before giving it back to store for replacement under warranty, I want to make sure that the data is not readable by the service guys using any recovery software. How to do it without any physical damage?
Will micro wave or soaking in water work?
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A very powerful magnet should scramble it, but the magnet you'd need would probably be more expensive than the card, so it's fairly pointless. Any other methods which would work would leave evidence of physical damage, and they probably wouldn't take it back. Water doesn't do anything; I've sent such cards through the laundry by accident and they still work fine afterwards. The microwave would probably do it, but it would also melt the plastic and otherwise cause obvious damage.
Your best bet is to take it back to the store and ask them if they would allow you to destroy it with a hammer and still get another one. You can show them in advance that it's unreadable. If they won't accept that, then you may just be out of luck.
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I'd rather just destroy the thing physically. The only way to permanently delete things would probably be to destroy it physically, I don't know if that's the case with cards though. Not even the FBI can search deleted data if it's all ashes.
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I agree with rain horse 68. I would rather loose the cash than take the chance of having the kind of data you have on your SD card fall into the wrong hands.
In general most manufactures are trust worthy and your data is secure. What you do not know is what are the arrangements the manufacturer has with the retailer or repair facility as to what to do with card(s) once they are deemed non repairable.
Having worked for manufactures I can tell you there are a variety of agreements out there none of which include return to the manufacturer for destruction. Most of the agreements for returned non-repairable goods is for field destruction. This is where the big problem is. There are no instructions as to how to do this. They can simply throw the item in the trash if they so wish to do so.
This is why I suggest you follow rainhorse68's suggestion of destroying the SD card yourself. This is the only sure way you can know the data cannot be read by anyone else.
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Slight paradox. There's plenty of software that can erase all data, by writing to every address with a zero several times. But if the card is completely unreadable, it's also unreachable by the software. If it's partly unreadable try some recovery and erasure software yourself. If not there's a few things in your favour. 1. They won't be able to recover the data either. 2. Given the value of the claim they almost certainly wouldn't dispute it and try to prove it was serviceable. This can be a big worry, data theft is real. I know what I'd do. If it had contained sensitive data, I'd rather lose the cash than a wink of sleep. I'd physically destroy the thing and buy another. No idea if microwaves, UV, mag fields etc would work. I've got a camera CF card soaked without damaging it at all though, so probably water's no good.
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