Image security and recovery

5 years 2 months ago #630739 by Prago
I just sold a camera and it just dawned onto me that there was a memory card in the camera.  I know the card was formatted.  My question is if the new owner of the camera could ever recover photos that were on the card after I formatted it?

SWM into chainsaws and hockey masks seeks like-minded SWF. No weirdos, please
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5 years 2 months ago #630746 by Nikon Shooter
When data is recorded on the medium, it is given a name.
Deleting a file means wiping its ID so, though it is there, it
can't be read but still recoverable.

When a device is formatted, it is reborn as virgin, new.
Sleep well! :P

Light is free… capturing it is not!
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5 years 2 months ago #630875 by Pete Franko
:agree:  well said 


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5 years 2 months ago - 5 years 2 months ago #630881 by garyrhook
The above is incorrect.

Formatting in most cameras involves writing a new directory structure onto the device. Nothing more. This means that the blocks containing the file data are still on the card, and still accessible.

Let me put this another way: "Formatting" a device does not equate to erasing all of the data on the device. It doesn't write a bunch of zeroes onto the device, nor anything else unless you are explicitly told that that is what happens. In general, erasure doesn't happen.

I'd be very surprised if any camera actually erased a card. Given how quick a format is, you can be assured that only the data structures are re-initialized.

Also: recovery software isn't necessarily stymied by formatting a card.

Contact the buyer and ask them to send the card to you?


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