I need to wipe an iPad for good.

[9923671]

I have read 50 million guides on how to wipe (wipe the data obviously) your iPad. They are all essentially the same thing. Go into General settings, then go to reset, and erase all data, etc etc. My question is, is this TRULY irrecoverable? If someone wanted to, could the data be recovered from that restore?
If this truly is irrecoverable, please explain to me why it is.
I am a very paranoid person, and I need some expert advice to calm me down I guess.

 

[BluePhoenixRa]

...is this TRULY irrecoverable? If someone wanted to, could the data be recovered from that restore?...

It's recoverable.
You can just do a back-up on iTunes before you erase everything, then you can simply go back to iTunes and restore your last back-up. =)

 

[kaitlynami]

If you do "Reset all content and settings" it is gone off of the iPad. The only way someone could get it back would be to restore the iPad from one of your backups, which would require access to wherever you backup your iPad (either iTunes, or iCloud). There's no place on the iPad to just undo a reset. You could also plug it into iTunes and restore as new, this also would erase everything.

 

[9923671]

Not really the point I was trying to make.
I DON'T want it to be recoverable from the next owner. (I sold it if I forgot to mention)

 

[Rodster]

Not really the point I was trying to make.
I DON'T want it to be recoverable from the next owner. (I sold it if I forgot to mention)

OK in a nutshell what Apple states and everyone has said. If you choose erase all contents and settings .....it's all gone. Most individuals will not bother or go thru the hassle of trying to recover your stuff, so rest easy. NAND memory technology is a lot different than spindle drives.

Now if you are trying to hide something from law enforcement such as the Police or the FBI well, sorry they have ways of recovering stuff because they can, that's why they is the Law.

 

[walie]

I have read 50 million guides on how to wipe (wipe the data obviously) your iPad. They are all essentially the same thing. Go into General settings, then go to reset, and erase all data, etc etc. My question is, is this TRULY irrecoverable? If someone wanted to, could the data be recovered from that restore?
If this truly is irrecoverable, please explain to me why it is.
I am a very paranoid person, and I need some expert advice to calm me down I guess.

if you really want to make sure, take a sledgehammer to it and smash it.

smash it good

 

[Bathplug]

People can use those recovery programs to recover photos. There are apps that erase free space. Take a look at projectstar ishredder (best one imo), ierase, ioverwrite, securewipe to name a few.

Honestly though I think if the person already filled the ipad with music then its made recovery photos less likely even if you did'nt use any of the above apps. As its pretty much a similar thing I think.

 

[Enlightenment1]

The question on everyone's lips is, what's so bad you want no one to see?

 

[FrankHahn]

To play it safe, you do the following:

1. You first get enough amount of NON-CRITICAL video to fulfill your iPad.

2. Then you restore your iPad using iTunes as a new iPad.

3. And then you sync the video to your iPad so that nearly all the storage space of your iPad is used.

If you do this a few times with different videos, then no body can recover anything valuable from your iPad except those videos you synced to the iPad.

 

[Rodster]

I'm sorry but i'm usually skeptical of people who freak out about security. The average person who stores something on their computer hard drive, laptop or tablet will take the extra step just to make sure there aren't any credit card info etc.

It's the paranoid that worry me as if they don't want to get caught by the law.

 

[scaredpoet]

This will Tell you everything you need to know:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2110

In a nutshell: if you Erase all Content and Settings from your iPad and give it to someone else, that's all yup need to do. The aren't going to be able to unerase the contents, unless maybe they work for the NSA or something.

 

[Calidude]

This will Tell you everything you need to know:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2110

In a nutshell: if you Erase all Content and Settings from your iPad and give it to someone else, that's all yup need to do. The aren't going to be able to unerase the contents, unless maybe they work for the NSA or something.

That's not comforting enough for some people. Apple should include NSA-proof overwriting in their Erasure procedure. It's not that difficult to do.

 

[Enlightenment1]

If you've sold it, why are you so bothered even if the new owner could make the iPad data recoverable? So what if you looked at porn, it's not like the new owner is gonna knock your door down and give you a telling off or go to the police because of it.

Why are you so bothered? What the hell did you have on there that you're scared the new owner is gonna find?

Sorry to say, but this is fishy. Whatever it is is obviously pretty serious because you wouldn't care otherwise.

 

[scaredpoet]

That's not comforting enough for some people. Apple should include NSA-proof overwriting in their Erasure procedure. It's not that difficult to do.

You're right, it isn't hard at all. According to the NSA, there are two recommended procedures, either of which can be followed, for securely removing the data on Solid State Drives:

5. Solid State Storage Devices include Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), Smart Cards, and Flash Memory.
a. Sanitization: Sanitize solid*state devices with the following procedures or sanitize by smelting in a licensed furnace at 1,600 degrees Celsius or higher or disintegrate into particles that are nominally 2 millimeter edge length in size using an NSA/CSS evaluated disintegrator per Reference d. Remove all labels or markings that indicate previous use or classification.

That, or:

9) Flash Memory: Sanitize EEPROM by overwriting all locations with a known unclassified pattern. Verify the overwrite procedure by randomly re* reading the overwritten information to confirm that only the known pattern can be recovered.

iOS overwrites the encryption key, rendering the entire filesystem unrecoverable, with a new one, ensuring that only the data on the new file system can be accessed. It's not following the full letter of the NSA procedure... ironically, older gen iPhones followed it more closely. But it comes pretty close, and if you really want to go the extra mile, a user can just fill the new filesystem with lots of unrelated video and audio content, or even just 1, 2, or 4 16GB ALAC files with white noise, and then erase again.

If that's "not comforting enough for some people," then maybe they can petition Apple to include an internal smelting furnace in next year's model.

 

[scaredpoet]

If you've sold it, why are you so bothered even if the new owner could make the iPad data recoverable? So what if you looked at porn, it's not like the new owner is gonna knock your door down and give you a telling off or go to the police because of it.

Why are you so bothered? What the hell did you have on there that you're scared the new owner is gonna find?

Sorry to say, but this is fishy. Whatever it is is obviously pretty serious because you wouldn't care otherwise.

Yeah, so what if the next owner can see emails from your bank, or every text message you've ever sent? So what if they can log right into your facebook account or send mail as you through recovered e-mail passwords? So what if they use the recovered password from your iCloud email, to take control of your iCloud account and take control of, track the locations of, lock, or wipe every iDevice you still own?

Anyone who cares if these things happen is totally hiding something. Very fishy.

 

[mopatops]

Yeah, so what if the next owner can see emails from your bank, or every text message you've ever sent? So what if they can log right into your facebook account or send mail as you through recovered e-mail passwords? So what if they use the recovered password from your iCloud email, to take control of your iCloud account and take control of, track the locations of, lock, or wipe every iDevice you still own?

Anyone who cares if these things happen is totally hiding something. Very fishy.

I think your tin foil hat fell off!

 

[Defender2010]

Erase all setting on the ipad itself...if you are still paranoid, DFU restore it in iTunes.

 

[scaredpoet]

I think your tin foil hat fell off!

Nah, I know that wiping my iPad is enough.

But suggesting that the only reason to worry about removing data from an iPad is that you have porn on it, is ridiculous.

 

[iapplelove]

OP are u Jerry Sandusky?

 

[knucklehead]

If you want some extra peace of mind, you might want to check out an app called ProtectStar iShredder Pro HD. I don't have it myself, but it might be what you want.

Some folks just tend to think about possible problems more than others -- where that becomes a bit nutty ... who knows?
If you can scrub everything, then you don't have to think about something you might have missed.

 

[Badrottie]

OP are u Jerry Sandusky?

Or is he al-Qaeda chief?