With constant progress in technology new smartphones and devices keep hitting the market. You may be contemplating of buying the latest device/phone. Now if you decide to sell or trade your old device, the most important step is to make sure you remove all your personal data from that device. Many people forget about this and end up risking their personal information (documents, images, videos, contacts, etc.) stored in the internal storage of the device.
Wiping a device with so much data may seem tedious but it’s a lot easier than you expect. There are many ways designed for us to erase the data. A pro tip here though, is before you proceed with wiping data off of your devices make sure your important data is backed up into an external drive so you do not lose it.
Manual Deletion of Each File:
You can manually delete each file/folder. You can tap on a file/folder you would like to delete and then you must choose delete option to remove that particular file/folder. You have to perform this function several times to delete many folder/files. Or you can just press on a file/folder for a few seconds, and then options will appear to select that particular file or select all. You must “Select All.” After Selecting All, you can delete the entire list of files/folder you see. This method consumes a lot of your time. Thus it is not the best course of action. However, there are other ways like factory reset that make the task quick and easy.
Wiping out data on an iPhone or Android Device: You can erase data from your phone by following procedure:
- Go to your “Settings”
- Scroll down to “System”
- Find the “Reset” Option
- Tap on “Factory Data Reset”
- You will be furnished with a list of data which will be erased
- Tap on “Reset”
- Your phone will proceed to factory reset.
Your data has been removed from your device. This means that all apps, media files, settings and manufacturer updates all these things are formatted in your phone by this procedure.
Wiping out Data on Windows10: You can wipe out data on Windows10 by performing following steps:
- Go to” Start Menu”
- Go to “Settings”
- Tap on “Update and Security”
- Go to “Recovery”
- Click on “Get Started” in “Reset this PC” section
- Choose “Keep My Files” or “Remove my Files” Option
- Click “Reset”
- It will proceed to reset windows
Note: Choose Keep my files if you want to keep your files. Otherwise, your all files will be deleted and your settings will go to default.
Wiping out Data to stratch (Windows 10): If you want to delete your data and clean your operating system too, then follow method described below:
- Go to “Start Menu”
- Go to “Settings”
- Click on “Update and Security”
- Go to “Recovery”
- Click “Get Started” in “Reset this PC” section
- Choose “Remove Everything”
- Choose “Remove Everything and Clean your Drive” option
- Click “Next”
- Click “Reset”
Note: This way, you will be cleaning your data to stretch totally.
Unless you want others to access your personal data, sensitive business emails, financial details, contact information and more make sure you delete all your data before selling your devices. By following above procedure, you can delete files easily.
