Refurbishing cell phones

[chas...@gmail.com]

We've been getting a handful of smart phones lately and I've been wrapping my head around issues around refurbishing them.

Are other refurbishers refurbishing donated cell phones for low income earners?

What kinds of specialized tools are needed?

Is there something you do to ensure the donated phones are not stolen?

We sometimes get phones from organizations who dump their lost and found. Typically we try to find the phone owners.

Cheers and happy Friday!

Charles
Blog: http://www.charlesmccolm.com/
Sent from my cell phone.

[Ryan McFadden]

hi there a data  sanitation practices that will help with this process. Factory resets and cell provider databases will help you determine if they're stolen out not.

Ryan McFadden
Executive Director
Electronic Access Foundation
908.872.6922
Rmcf...@e-access.org

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[Jim Lynch]

Just thought I’d add that Pace Butler hosts a Cell Phone Data Erase Tool that has online information on how to erase data on several different phones – most of the major ones.

http://www.pacebutler.com/cell-phone-data-erase-tool.cfm

-jim

[Charles M]

Thanks Ryan and Jim. We just had someone looking for a MicroSD card and that got me thinking about data on these cards (a SDHC card wouldn't work because of the phone). Has anyone tried dbanning microSD cards? We wouldn't want to just format a card.

Charles McColm, Author: Instant XBMC,
Columnist: Full Circle Magazine,
Project Manager: The Working Centre Computer Recycling Project
Web: http://www.theworkingcentre.org/cr/
Blog: http://www.charlesmccolm.com/
Twitter/Identica/Google+: @chaslinux

[Jim Lynch]

Nice question! I did a little poking around.

The SD Association has a free downloadable application called 'SD Formatter 4.0 for SD/SDHC/SDX’ that fully erases SD cards. Find it at:  https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/

Here’s the steps:

1. Download and install the SD Formatter 4.0 program on to a PC

2. Insert the SD card into the media card reader on the computer. If it does not have a media card reader, you can use a USB media card reader.

3. Launch the SD Formatter 2.0 software. The drive where the SD card is located will automatically be detected and displayed in the "Drive" field. Click "Option," and select "FULL (Erase On)" for a complete format of the SD card, and click "OK." Click on "Format" and then "Yes" on the screen that pops up to confirm. You will see a progress screen as the SD card formats, which changes to a completion screen when it is done.

4. Click "OK" to close the completion screen and then "Exit" on the main screen to close the program. Once it is closed, you can safely remove the formatted SD card from the media card reader.

eHow has an alternative method without using the specialized application at: http://www.ehow.com/how_7175068_fully-erase-sd-card.html

-jim

From: Charles M <chas...@gmail.com>
Reply-To: "refurb...@googlegroups.com" <refurb...@googlegroups.com>
Date: Friday, April 11, 2014 at 12:49 PM
To: Refurbishers Mailinglist <refurb...@googlegroups.com>

[paul.katzoff]

Hi Charles,

We offer a software solution for iOS devices - WipeDrive Mobile.  It performs the DoD3 overwrite pattern and provides a log file for each Apple device.  We also offer a MediaWiper tool for SD cards.  See the links below: 

http://www.whitecanyon.com/WipedriveMobile

http://www.whitecanyon.com/WipedriveMobile

Let me know if there are any questions.

Thanks,

Paul Katzoff

WhiteCanyon Software