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I cannot get the phone to power on to wipe it and do a factory reset. What parts of this phone hold any private information (images, messages, etc.)? I would like to turn the phone into a recycling center but would like to remove all of my information first.
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Not much; what I've done before is drilled through the flash to quickly get the job done when someone asked me to deal with these phones or I need to get rid of one myself; it doesn't wipe out the contents, but it makes it impossible to recover. I usually go through the board, not just the flash. GENERALLY, I do one large hole and physically hammer the flash chip to be sure.
At that point (depending on who I did it for; me or someone I know, or a client), I handle it case by case:
That said, once you do the dirty part put the board back in the phone. Don't make the person taking it explain why there's a hole in the board. They don't need to know. If you can open it to drill it you can put it back together.
Take a picture of the board so we can see where the NAND flash is.
-- should be under here on the metal shield. On the black sticker phone, peel it up and see if you can't tell by feel.
This is how it should be done. For context this is a router from the Draft N era (~2007) I was asked to drill through for disposal. Absolutely not needed but the person who asked me to deal with it wanted to be sure. Normally I'd fight back a bit and reset it but Draft N is dead and almost none of the specs made it into the final N spec. Draft routers are very often DOA; this one ran a super early revision and was DOA when finalized.
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I was able to take it apart and went ahead and took another phone apart as well, so here is both. Thank you for your help!
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Remove the big metal shield. It's under there. For the black sticker phone peel that up and see otherwise it's naked on the other side.
For reassembly don't worry about replacing the shield or tape. Throw it away and put it back in the phone without it for recycling. I doubt they will care.
@nick How can I tell which parts are the flash memory? I'm having a hard time telling which parts to destroy. I have updated the photo. Thank you in advance.
@phonenomore Phone on the left is the one with the white sticker most likely. Others look like accessory chips like the processor and cellular radio. I can tell by the white dot with that one.
Do you see something similar on the right side board? Check both sides.
Qualcomm on the right board is a cell radio or processor. Disregard it. The flash may also be next to the Qualcomm part as well, but check and see. If you see no other major chips (small ones like the ones towards the top are for the other circuits) it could be the flash.
@nick Thank you so much! I was able to I think, figure it out, with your help. I will be taking it to a local business to drop off very soon! Appreciate all the help and explanations.
@phonenomore Heh I've always dropped these things off to Best Buy when I have a time slot or I'm buying something there. I usually reassemble the phone to avoid being questioned about why I didn't just trust them.
They don't see I drilled? No problem.
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I was able to take it apart and went ahead and took another phone apart as well, so here is both. I could not add an image to the comment so I added it to the initial question. Thank you for your help!
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