formatting memory cards ?? Sandisk

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Bazza
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Have to say I am at a bit of a loss on what to do next. Getting rid of memory card data

First I formatted a memory card in camera then ran Sandisk rescue pro and the photos still there
Next formatted memory card in computer via a card reader and still the photos remained

So now asking everyone who has managed to wipe the data completely from a memory card, how did you do it?? Please no " try this or try that" replies if not succeeded yourselves in completely wiping off data
 
Set a camera to give the largest file size possible, point it at a complicated scene and fire until the card's full. Format again and repeat the above a couple of times.
Or use Sandisk's wiping utility through RescuePro.
To ensure there's nothing recoverable, burn it! (As in with fire.)
 
Did you do a quick format on the computer?
You need to do a full format.
I had a similar issue and this completely wiped it.
I don't use sandisk rescue pro though.
The photos weren't showing in camera after format, but when I put the disk into my TV all the previously deleted images were still showing.
The full format fixed it.
After reading the above posts, I'm thinking that a file recovery programme would still find the images after doing the above.
 
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Blimey - they must be pretty incriminating images ... ;)
yes like this for example
ZTYOLMo.jpg

A cat we used to have until he died


I will try that later Dave thanks
 
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Set a camera to give the largest file size possible, point it at a complicated scene and fire until the card's full. Format again and repeat the above a couple of times.
Or use Sandisk's wiping utility through RescuePro.
To ensure there's nothing recoverable, burn it! (As in with fire.)

Both a form of file shredding......the advantage of a specific program is that it will write 'zeros' in a set number of repeat passes. But the @Nod method needs more intervention ;)
 
Did you do a quick format on the computer?
You need to do a full format.
I had a similar issue and this completely wiped it.
I don't use sandisk rescue pro though.
The photos weren't showing in camera after format, but when I put the disk into my TV all the previously deleted images were still showing.
The full format fixed it.
After reading the above posts, I'm thinking that a file recovery programme would still find the images after doing the above.
On a mac you have a few options when formatting data storage. A quick format only makes the computer see that it can use all available space (i.e. the data is still there but it can be overwritten with new data). There are other formatting options that over write the data on the card by writing data such as a series of 1's and 0's to the memory storage. That should permanently delete the data that was stored on the data storage and not allow a file recovery software to find anything. The problem is this type of formatting can take quite a while to do so most people don't format data storage devices in this way. The more secure the formatting the longer it takes. The only time I've decided I needed to format a drive was when sell a portable drive on. When I had a old computer hard drive that I was binning a hammer was a quicker method of 'formatting' the hard drive!
 
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You can get programs to wipe data. There was one I cant remember the name now but it overwrites to dept of defence standards (I think 7 times?) Normal formatting only really removes the links to the photos.
I've recovered customers photos a few times (One wipes her holiday pics every year) I'm getting pics back that are years old.
 
Both a form of file shredding......the advantage of a specific program is that it will write 'zeros' in a set number of repeat passes. But the @Nod method needs more intervention ;)


In my defence, I had typed the "overwrite with new photos of sod all" method (I've used a pretty patterned rug) before rereading that Bazza has RescuePro which has an overwriting function built in.. :p The long winded method also adds a fair few shutter activations to the count.
 
I format my card in camera almost daily, as I was told years ago that it's better than simply deleting. I assumed I had a brand spanking new card every time, no scraps of data to interfere with new pictures.
 
Yeah, so formatting in the same as deleting via the bin button (?)

I'm not trying to remove/destroy evidence, just trying to use the healthiest method. :)
 
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I format my card in camera almost daily, as I was told years ago that it's better than simply deleting. I assumed I had a brand spanking new card every time, no scraps of data to interfere with new pictures.
All an in-camera format (or PC quick format) does is to overwrite the directory information, marking all the sectors as available. It doesn't matter if there's old data on the card as it simply gets overwritten by new data. Deleting individual files should overwrite the directory entry for that file and link the data area back into the available pool but there is a certain amount of evidence that doing this too often can corrupt the directory so formatting is the better method to clear a card for re-use. FWIW I have a number of cards of a given capacity which I use in rotation and don't format until they're next put into the camera.
 
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On a side note a few years back a colleague asked me to help her recovery images from an SD card she had formatted accidentally in camera.

I tried everything including as I recall one program that worked at bit level and nada!

It was from a Fujifilm p&s , then Googling at that revealed there was no way to restore those files. Just possibly different now but whatever the Fuji did when formatting it was effective.
 
If you used RescuePRO's recovery function, it is read-only, so it is not going to remove any data from the card, but it will recover what is recoverable. RescuePRO does have a wipe function, so it can get rid of the data, if you wish it to.
 
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