Selling my Mini - how do I wipe SD card without PC?

[Lone_Stranger]

Reluctantly selling my mini this weekend, can I wipe the SD card without access to a computer/laptop? I’ve googled but no success. If I was to leave the SD card what type of info would the new owner be able to access?

Thanks in advance and apologies if I’ve missed the answer in previous threads

 

[Deleted member 103366]

If you are worried about the contents of the mSD card then DO NOT include it in the sale. The cost of a new one for the new owner is insignificant
Post 13 onwards of LOGs inside the SD card - I WANT TO KNOW might be of interest.
Off the top of my head the DAT logs on the actual drone are undecipherable to Joe Public so 'safe' but I will stand correction on that

 

[Lone_Stranger]

Thanks for the info Phillius

the SD card has only ever been in the drone and as I’ve already included it in the eBay ad I don’t want to be accused of false advertising. Maybe I will revise the listing but I’m not concerned if it’s only pictures and videos the new owner can access.

thanks again

 

[Dedal]

DJI Fly App: User Guide for Mavic Mini / Mavic Air 2 - DJI Guides

Discover an in-depth walkthrough of the DJI Fly app. From adjusting your gimbal settings to video editing settings, this guide has got it all covered!

store.dji.com

In DJI Fly App there is a Camera menu, then a sub-menu in which you can format your SD card.

 

[Tony McDrone]

When you format the card that doesn’t clear everything off of it? What am I missing?

 

[Deleted member 103366]

Did you read the link? There may be a DAT log on the card, if there is then that likely has flight locations but that would be about the limit I think
If you have a phone that has an external mSD slot then maybe you can download an app that wipes cards, note it needs to overwrite the original data to be reasonably safe.
ZarX and Recuva EASILY recover stuff from quick formatted cards
A quick format does not do it, a low level format might, I think Meta4 dicussed this in a fairly recent thread. If it wasn't Meta4 then the thread is still fairly recent

 

[Mossiback]

Format the card in the drone. Then fill it up with video of a blank wall to overwrite old data, delete the video(s), and format again. Many recovery programs can still access data from a reformatted source unless it is overwritten.

Or buy a new card for the sale and keep the old one for yourself. You will find a use for it eventually.

 

[Tony McDrone]

Did you read the link? There may be a DAT log on the card, if there is then that likely has flight locations but that would be about the limit I think
If you have a phone that has an external mSD slot then maybe you can download an app that wipes cards, note it needs to overwrite the original data to be reasonably safe.
ZarX and Recuva EASILY recover stuff from quick formatted cards
A quick format does not do it, a low level format might, I think Meta4 dicussed this in a fairly recent thread. If it wasn't Meta4 then the thread is still fairly recent

I did read the link, thank you very much. My question still stands. I am hear to learn...and this is an opportunity for me to do so as well others. Save your smarter than tho attitude for your peers at MIT.

 

[Lone_Stranger]

Did you read the link? There may be a DAT log on the card, if there is then that likely has flight locations but that would be about the limit I think
If you have a phone that has an external mSD slot then maybe you can download an app that wipes cards, note it needs to overwrite the original data to be reasonably safe.
ZarX and Recuva EASILY recover stuff from quick formatted cards
A quick format does not do it, a low level format might, I think Meta4 dicussed this in a fairly recent thread. If it wasn't Meta4 then the thread is still fairly recent

I did. It was a bit heavy for my less than tech savvy head but thanks anyway.

 

[Lone_Stranger]

Format the card in the drone. Then fill it up with video of a blank wall to overwrite old data, delete the video(s), and format again. Many recovery programs can still access data from a reformatted source unless it is overwritten.

Or buy a new card for the sale and keep the old one for yourself. You will find a use for it eventually.

Great advice. Much obliged

 

[Lone_Stranger]

DJI Fly App: User Guide for Mavic Mini / Mavic Air 2 - DJI Guides

Discover an in-depth walkthrough of the DJI Fly app. From adjusting your gimbal settings to video editing settings, this guide has got it all covered!

store.dji.com

In DJI Fly App there is a Camera menu, then a sub-menu in which you can format your SD card.

Thank you

 

[Dedal]

Thank you

You are welcome.

 

[Deleted member 103366]

I did read the link, thank you very much. My question still stands. I am hear to learn...and this is an opportunity for me to do so as well others. Save your smarter than tho attitude for your peers at MIT.

Wow, aside from anything else the post was not meant for you and I am in no way clever enough to have MIT students as peers.

I did. It was a bit heavy for my less than tech savvy head but thanks anyway.

Fair enough, the short version is that I found a DAT file flight log on the mSD card of my Mini, I can't remember what was in it but DAT flight logs seem to be records of flight data and as such probably had GPS data in them, so in other words a location.
This would possibly be the same situation as happens with Phantom 3's which store 'legible' DAT files in their internal memory so a new owner can always see the last few flights of the drone.
That said if you overwrite the card the data is probably beyond simple means of recovery, when testing cards I use H2testw which fills the card with data and the recovery program I use, ZARX, can not find anything useful after H2testw has been used.
Unfortunately H2testw is for windows though I might have seen reference to its use on either an Apple or ios, the latter might allow you to use an iphone. From memory it unfortunately does not seem to run on android

 

[Ukung]

Reluctantly selling my mini this weekend, can I wipe the SD card without access to a computer/laptop? I’ve googled but no success. If I was to leave the SD card what type of info would the new owner be able to access?

Thanks in advance and apologies if I’ve missed the answer in previous threads

Why don't you inform yourself about those things before you sell, than you do not have to bother the forum for advise that you do not pay for !!

 

[Meta4]

Reluctantly selling my mini this weekend, can I wipe the SD card without access to a computer/laptop? I’ve googled but no success. If I was to leave the SD card what type of info would the new owner be able to access?

There's nothing on your SD card to be worried about.
Just format it and it will be blank card.
Perhaps if you were selling to a CIA spy, they might be able to recover the deleted data and perhaps decrypt the data to see what park you flew at, where and when.
Very few regular flyers could make any sense of the data if it was recovered.
Don't lose any sleep over it, it's no big deal.

 

[Fearless Flight]

You could spend $10 on a new card and swap it with the one that you have written to. Then use your “old” one on your new drone or whatever else you want.

 

[Hi-Flyer]

Reluctantly selling my mini this weekend, can I wipe the SD card without access to a computer/laptop? I’ve googled but no success. If I was to leave the SD card what type of info would the new owner be able to access?

Thanks in advance and apologies if I’ve missed the answer in previous threads

You can format the card when it is inserted into the Mini and the Mini is connected to the RC, by accessing the Camera option of the DJI Fly menu. There you will find Format, which allows formatting of both the SD card and the internal memory as selected by you. FYI, there are softwares that can retrieve data previously deleted by either a single delete command or a general format; if it is important to you that was was formatted not be recoverable, don't pass the SD card to someone else. [Google RECUVA for a recovery example].

 

[orb]

If you have a camera put the card into the sd adapter and format it on the camera