Before you recycle any gadget, make sure you completely wipe any personal data. Robert Irvine explains how to erase all your devices
PHONE AND TABLET
From messages, photos and videos to passwords, bookmarks and browsing history, our phones and tablets contain so much personal information that it’s essential to wipe their contents before selling them.
To erase all data from your Android device, go to Settings, ‘Backup & reset’ and choose ‘Factory data reset’. Tap ‘Reset phone’ to delete all your apps, account details, system settings, media files and other user data. On an iPhone or iPad, go to Settings, General, Reset, ‘Erase All Content and Settings’. Enter your passcode when prompted, then tap Erase. On a Windows Phone, go to Settings, About, choose ‘Reset your phone’ and tap Yes to confirm the reset. Double-check the device is completely clean before you send or drop it off to a recycling service.
LAPTOP
Wiping a laptop's hard drive isn’t quite as straightforward because of the amount of data you’re likely to have stored all over it. Windows lets you format the drive, but this won’t permanently erase its contents, so you’re better off using о third party program to ensure that nothing can be recovered. The most powerful tool for the job is undoubtedly Darik’s Boot and Nuke (DBAN, dban.org, above) which “irrecoverably destroys data”. Download the ISO file from the website and copy it to CD or DVD by right-clicking the file and choosing ‘Burn disc image’. Reboot your laptop with the disc in the drive and it should boot into DBAN. If not, try pressing F12 and change the boot order to place your CD/DVD drive first. Press Enter to start DBAN’s interactive mode, so you can choose which partition or drive to wipe, or type autonuke to completely erase Windows and all your files - forever!
If you’re selling a MacBook, you can use the Disk Utility tool in OS X to erase your hard drive. Hold down Command+R as you restart the MacBook to bring up the OS X Utilities window. Select Disk Utility, click Continue, then choose your drive from the list on the left. Click the Erase tab, select Format from the Mac OS Extended (Journaled) menu and click Erase. Remember to deauthorise your MacBook from iTunes and to disconnect from Find My Mac and iCIoud before you wipe the drive. See Apple’s support page at bit.ly/macbook361 for more information.
CHROMECAST
Because your Chromecast has been connected to your home network, it's easy to forget that it may store your Wi-Fi data, meaning your password could fall into the wrong hands if you sell or give away the device. To erase your Chromecast. either open the Settings menu in the Chromecast app and choose Factory Data Reset, or hold down the reset button on the device for at least 25 seconds or until the solid light begins flashing.
USB DRIVE
Manually deleting files from a USB memory stick won’t prevent them from being recovered by someone with a little tech know-how, so you should thoroughly erase it before recycling. Many PC clean-up tools offer a drive-wiping tool, including Web User favourite CCleaner (www.piriform.com/ccleaner) Just go to Tools, click Drive Wiper and select Entire Drive from the drop-down Wipe menu. Specify how many times you want to overwrite the data - Very Complex Rewrite (35 passes) is the most secure - and select your USB drive in the box below Click Wipe, type ERASE to confirm you want to proceed (the deletion can t be undone) and click OK.
GAMES CONSOLE
Your Xbox or PlayStation has a let more personal data on it than just your game saves, so if you’re trading in the console, you should format it first. To wipe your Xbox 360, go to System Settings, Storage, choose your local drive and press the Y button on your controller. Select Fermat and choose Yes when asked if you’re sure you v/ant to delete all content from the device. To prevent accidental deletion, you may be asked to enter your serial number, which you can find on the back of the console and behind the oval flap on the front.
The steps are much the sane for a PlayStation 3 go to Settings, System Settings and press the X button on your controller, then highlight Format Hard Disk and press X again. Before formatting, deactivate your PS3 (see bit.Iy/deact361 for instructions) and remove all your Sony account info.
If you’ve got an old Wii you no longer want, you can erase it by opening Wi Settings and choosing Format Wii System Memory. To erase data from a Nintendo DS Lite, just open the back compartment, remove the battery for at least 10 seconds, then put it back in.
SSD
Solid state drives work differently to mechanical drives, which means you can’t use tools such as DBAN to erase them, and when you delete data it could merely be moved to another part of the drive. Fortunately, most manufacturers provide software for securely erasing their SSDs. which you’ll either find on
the drive itself or on their website.
Alternatively, you could use a free program called Parted Magic (partedmagic.com), which lets you wipe both standard hard drives and SSDs using its Secure Erase option. It looks complicated to use at first, but you’ll find clear instructions at partedmagic.com/secure-erase.
KINDLE
If you’re planning to recycle your Kindle (Paperwhite or earlier), you should first deregister the e-reader so that nobody else can make purchases using your account. To do this, you can either sign into the Manage Your Kindle section of the Amazon website (bit.ly/manage308), select Manage Your Devices and click Deregister; or deregister from your device via the Settings menu. Next, delete all ebooks, documents and ether content from the device by choosing 'Reset to Factory Defaults’ from the Settings menu. On a Kindle Fire, choose More from the top menu, select Device and tap ‘Reset to Factory Defaults’
If you’re upgrading to a new Kindle, you’ll be able to download all your previous purchases again when you register the device to your Amazon account.