Help What to do with electronics before you ctb?

[thelostautistic]

I don't like the idea of my family going through my laptop or phone? What is everyone doing with there electronics before they go?

 

[EmptyBottle]

I don't like the idea of my family going through my laptop or phone? What is everyone doing with there electronics before they go?

Simple factory resets / reinstalls and "dd" wipes. The devices would be sellable still, if I needed $$ for a hotel room, etc.

PS: When reinstalling windows (older than windows 11), or unencrypted linux (and a dd wipe wasn't used), use a space filling program (even copying and pasting random system files until the storage is low, then deleting the copies) to make even forensic data recovery near impossible*


*Online accounts are also a potential concern, there are 30 day retention windows on some systems, but a simple clearing of SaSu related search terms, etc is a starter defence against snooping.

 

[Jadeith]

Me personally? Nothing, since i do not give flying intercourse if anyone snoops around my data when i'm dead.
What can YOU do? Depends on the level of paranoia you want to have. Simple disc/card formatting and restoring factory settings in the phone is enough to stop "general public" from accessing your data. You can go even for "military format" (filling disc to the brim with random garbage data several times before actually formatting) if you suspect that any of the family members could be technically savvy enough to use some commercial or free data recovery programs. For the phones, installing new firmware or better, bad firmware that would brick your phone is also an option.
Cops and such - that's another story since they have potential access to much better data recovery techniques. Any data holding device should be thoroughly obliterated to prevent any and all attempts. Discs, phones, pendrives or other memory banks. Most effortless way is to place the device on the rail and wait for the train. then scatter the remains. If you do not have access to active railroad then simple hammer and patience should do. Work until every and all parts of the device(s) are unrecognizable. Preferably in form of sand or similarly sized particles.

There's also problem with on-line data. Even if you delete your accounts, backups exist for prolonged periods of time so law enforcement or someone persistent enough could theoretically access them.

 

[thelostautistic]

Simple factory resets / reinstalls and "dd" wipes. The devices would be sellable still, if I needed $$ for a hotel room, etc.

PS: When reinstalling windows (older than windows 11), or unencrypted linux (and a dd wipe wasn't used), use a space filling program (even copying and pasting random system files until the storage is low, then deleting the copies) to make even forensic data recovery near impossible*


*Online accounts are also a potential concern, there are 30 day retention windows on some systems, but a simple clearing of SaSu related search terms, etc is a starter defence against snooping.

I'm sorry I don't understand any of this

 

[OzymandiAsh]

Expensive tech I have factory reset and left for family to reuse. Other stuff I've labelled to go to a HWRC (household waste recycling centre), they deal with electronic waste the best.

 

[EmptyBottle]

I'm sorry I don't understand any of this

basically wipe or factory reset a modern device, on older devices, fill them up with garbage files after resetting, then delete the garbage.

 

[Alpacachino]

I'm sorry I don't understand any of this

Simply go into your phone settings and do a factory reset. What this will do is wipe the memory, but the data can still be retrieved using a specialized software. To prevent any recovery if you just copy any data(any data at all) to the phone or PC hard drive again it will make sure any old data is overwritten and can never be recovered.

 

[Nightingale93]

I'll probably be removing any passwords and PIN codes I have on all of my electronic devices, so whoever finds me can go through it, know who I was. Especially the people closest to me who never really understood me, maybe they can discover the part of me they never really cared for.

 

[SovietSuicide]

If you're not very tech literate best thing to do on Windows is just turn on the bitlocker option and then set a good password that people can't guess.

If you try to wipe it without knowing what you're doing properly then you can make mistakes which would make the data recoverable.

There's a small caveat which is if your windows login is connected to your Microsoft account and it's not a local account then Law Enforcement could get Microsoft to unlock it for them.

Veracrypt is an alternative without that issue but it's more complicated so not good if you're not tech literate.

If you are semi tech literate then you can try Dban/boot and nuke it's not too hard really.

 

[Alpacachino]

Or just download a free low level format tool from the net like below,

HDDGURU: HDD LLF Low Level Format Tool

This freeware HDD Low Level Format utility can erase, Low-Level Format and re-certify a SATA, IDE, SAS, SCSI, SSD hard disk drive. Will also work with any USB and FIREWIRE external drive enclosures as well as SD, MMC, MemoryStick and CompactFlash media.

hddguru.com

It's what I use. It's completely free. Not only will this delete all data, it will override that data itself at the same time making it disappear completely from the hard drive.It has a user interface so you don't need any commands and is very easy to use.

 

[violetforever]

i mean i would probably prefer my family to not look through my phone just of out respect for my privacy but i kind of dont care. i feel like when you really want to die this type of stuff stops mattering. also when have they ever respected my privacy lol? at least thats how it feels for me. i dont have anything to hide on my phone anyway though.

i never thought of factory resetting my phone bc it looks like im trying to hide stuff but i might consider it now. my family could use or sell my phone i guess. same for my macbook. someone could definitely use that.

 

[DeadManLiving]

Throw them in a river or bath bucket with boiling water and add a bag of heavy sidewalk salt. Or controlled fireplace/torch burn.

Unless there's something you want to be found for the record after crossing over. But LE will seize it.

 

[Dinozauria]

I'm personally gonna factory reset most of my devices and either sell them or put them into those electronic recycling thingys. The only devices I won't be selling are probably my TV, laptop and phone
I don't really think anybody will look through my devices. Even if they do I'm literally dead so I don't care

 

[memento-mori]

i made a thread asking the same question

 

[thelostautistic]

i made a thread asking the same question

Sorry I didn't know

 

[memento-mori]

Sorry I didn't know

no it's ok

 

[SUlClDE]

I don't like the idea of my family going through my laptop or phone? What is everyone doing with there electronics before they go?

i have thought about the same thing and came to the conclusion that it doesnt matter because i would be dead and wouldnt care if they went through my devices or not