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How to wipe SD card complete and unrecoverable

Posted: 29 Jan 2019, 13:50
by nicknick
Hi,
My SD card recently failed in my android phone and after several tries to format/repair with Windows10 PC now it is in RAW state and can't format. It is also unrecognizable when installed back in the phone. It is under warranty and I've been requested to return it for replacement. The problem is I don't want to send it with all information still on it. I recovered my files, thanks PhotoRec :D but I can't find any option to remove all personal information making unrecoverable for others in the service center.
Please help

Re: How to wipe SD card complete and unrecoverable

Posted: 30 Jan 2019, 17:02
by cgrenier
Create a Linux USB key, remove all your HDD, boot from the USB key and use "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb conv=noerror".
Replace /dev/sdb by the correct device corresponding to your USB key. PhotoRec will not be able to recover your old data.
I's safer to remove your HDD, this way you will not wipe them by mistake.

Re: How to wipe SD card complete and unrecoverable

Posted: 01 Feb 2019, 09:27
by nicknick
Hi, thank you for your advice.

Unfortunately it didn't work. I completed the procedure twice but received an error:

dd: writing to '/dev/sdc': Input/output error
47689393+0 records in
47689392+0 records out
24416968704 bytes (24 GB., 23 GiB) copied, 6824.38 s, 3.6 MB/s

The card is 32GB and the data still recoverable when tested. Probably the best thing is to destroy it and buy a new one, not risking to send it for a warranty replacement.

Thank you for your help