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Thursday, 21 May 2015 00:00

How Much Data Is Still On Your Old Smartphone?

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How often do you buy a smartphone? Do you upgrade every time your service providers allows? Once a year? Once every two years? How many smart phones have you owned throughout the years ... and where are they now? Do you sell your old model smartphone to get a few extra dollars? You need to think twice before you let someone else use your old smartphone.

At InfoRecovery, we provide a wide variety of services, including Forensic Data Recovery services. If you're not familiar with these services, check them out. If you were to need text messages to prove that something was said, but the messages were deleted, you could send us your phone and we could find those deleted messages for you. But factory resetting your phone should delete all that information, as though it never existed - just like it came from the factory - right? Wrong.

Don't make a fatal mistake ... read on to see what you've likely been doing wrong with every smartphone you've ever owned...

Just like deleted data on your computer is not really deleted, deleted data on your phone is not really gone. The phone is essentially a mini computer, and operates in same way as any other computer you own. When you delete data, the path to the data is deleted. The data is still present in the same spot on the phone's memory, but the phone thinks that it is not. When space is needed to write new data, those "empty" spaces that are created by removing the path to the data is used - or overwritten - by the new data.

A good example of this is a phone that we are currently working on. I'm not going to provide you any in depth details, because we value our customer's privacy as much as our customers do, but here is the basics. The phone was factory reset; no "old" data appeared to still be present on the phone. Multiple actions were completed on the phone after the reset, including setting up a new account, connecting to the internet, downloading files, and more. Despite all this, we were able to recover extensive messaging and call history, contacts, 100s of pictures and videos, and even audio files!

What sort of data was saved on your old smartphones? Or your children's smartphones - things you never saw because your child deleted them! Sure, you could attempt to ensure no one else can see anything saved on your phone by smashing it to pieces before you throw it away, but even that doesn't ensure that the memory within the phone is cannot be recovered. Even when a phone doesn't work (broken screen, won't power on, etc), the memory inside the phone may still be hanging on to the things you saved there once upon a time.

Before you pack away your old smartphone and forget where it is, sell it for some extra cash, or even throw it in the trash, let us help you make sure your data has been securely removed and cannot be recovered. Mention you read this blog, and we'll offer you a limited time special: $99 + shipping and handling. You'll never have to worry about your messages, emails, pictures, or *gasp!* videos falling into the wrong hands.

Last modified on Thursday, 21 May 2015 14:16
Data Recovery Expert

Viktor S., Ph.D. (Electrical/Computer Engineering), was hired by DataRecoup, the international data recovery corporation, in 2012. Promoted to Engineering Senior Manager in 2010 and then to his current position, as C.I.O. of DataRecoup, in 2014. Responsible for the management of critical, high-priority RAID data recovery cases and the application of his expert, comprehensive knowledge in database data retrieval. He is also responsible for planning and implementing SEO/SEM and other internet-based marketing strategies. Currently, Viktor S., Ph.D., is focusing on the further development and expansion of DataRecoup’s major internet marketing campaign for their already successful proprietary software application “Data Recovery for Windows” (an application which he developed).