Privacy and buying and selling.

[bilzmale]

Some of you know I tend to change cameras nearly as often as I change my sox but got to thinking today. On Monday I picked up a second hand Fufi HS10 which came with a 8GB card. Unfortunately it was a Class 2 so I ordered a Sandisk Class 10 replacement. Now Sandisk come with a card recovery program called Rescue Pro (used to be free - now it's a 12 month subscription). I decided to see what it might recover from the original card and sure enough it turned up well over 100 images despite the card having been re-formatted by me. After a quick look at a couple of images it was clear these were typical family shots.

Formatting clearly does not remove all traces (it alters the marker that points to the file so the camera does not see the file(s)). Rescue Pro does come with a card wiping program that overwrites everything taking nearly an hour for an 8GB card. Now in the past I've sold cards with cameras and any recoverable images would be harmless but it makes one stop and think.

Of course the same technology applies to hard disks and thumb drives.

 

[Country Parson]

Something for all of us to remember. I have that Sandisk program and did not know it would recover photos after formatting. Thanks for the tip.

 

[BBW]

I've never sold an SD card and reading this would make me even more less likely to. I wouldn't feel comfortable at all...even though I post a number of family related photographs on Flickr, some open to all... However, it's my choice to do so. Bill, thanks so much for bringing this information to light - it's news to me.

Don't even get me thinking about the hard drive stuff. This is when I begin to think that I should never ever have started using my computer as my "desk". I think I need to start a new thread about that subject.

 

[Country Parson]

HS10 or HS20 owners (or those considering one) will get a kick out of this video. In fact all serious compact owners will probably enjoy it.

YouTube - ‪Fuji HS20 Vs. DSLR Shootout‬‏

 

[wt21]

Good reminder. I've recovered pics on my own cameras, so this makes sense. I never thought about that on SD and CF cards I've sold (typically with a camera body as a throw-in).

Thanks for the post!

 

[Will]

I always remove cards and even internal hard drives before I get rid of computer equipment. Even if it's going to the dump. Same with my phones for which I use a very powerful magnet.

 

[texascbx]

I dispose of a hard drive after a few good whacks with a sledge hammer.

You could fill the old card up again with garbage data and that would overwrite the old data too.

 

[Penny]

Very thought provoking I have also sold two cams in the past 6mths with what I thought as a reformatted SD card? now I wonder. Also I have sold to friends s/hand computers which I thought I had deleted everything on to be told that something had usually my name popped up occasionally.
Now I would either buy or borrow a disc to rubbish a hard drive and not sell any SD cards with a cam again.
Needless to say not because there was anything illegal or damaging to myself on any drive or card, but with ID theft on the increase in the UK I wouldn't like to take a chance.

 

[ZDP-189]

Never sell cards. Always over write the internal memory with a few photos.