How can I completely erase a CF card?

I would recommend using a program that rewrites the data such as Roadkils diskwipe recommended by the below article from Gizmodo and do at least 3 to 7 passes.

http://gizmodo.com/5494427/leave-no-trace-how-to-completely-erase-your-hard-drives-ssds-and-thumb-drives

You should wipe the card clean using a wiping utility from Image Recall, DataRescue, RescuePro, or other low level re-formatting utility on a PC to get a fresh DOS format - format in FAT 16 only. To use Windows XP in Fat16, you have to drag down FAT bar and choose "FAT" for FAT 16....it will normally default to Fat32. After, re-format in camera before shooting.

http://www.dban.org/

My AVG identified Roadkils as malware when I tried to execute it.

Darik's Boot and Nuke is a bootable cd or dvd that will handle the job. Just need to be careful to select the correct drive for deletion/wiping.

http://www.dban.org/

I do not think that DBAN supports any type of flash storage. You did download it from Roadkil's WebSite right?

http://www.roadkil.net/program.php/P14/Disk%20Wipe

It may be a false positive by your AV because the software is used to erase data. I have used it without any issue. May be you need to add an exception in your AV. Just know that when you do use it make sure you are selecting your compact flash as a physical drive from the drop down list. Otherwise it will more than likely complete with errors.

I'm not an expert on SD cards but I don't think I would trust overwriting to completely erase a CF card any more than it can be guaranteed to erase an SSD, I think you have to tell the device to securely erase itself and trust that the manufacturer has implimented secure erase properly so all cells that have been spared as they were worn still get re-written. Unless there's anything really secret on it though deleting the pics through the camera controls and then taking however many pics of the neighbour's cat are needed to fill it up should be good enough.

You can wipe cf with dban depending on your card reader you may have boot then add card.


http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=623507   

Which of those people in that thread has credentials to prove they're an expert on the design of CF cards? Take a read of www.ssddfj.org/papers/SSDDFJ_V1_1_Breeuwsma_et_al.pdf , then get Darik to post somewhere confirming his prog works with whatever NAND flash device we're talking about.

A low level format to FAT16 as I stated initially will do the job and for your purposes should be sufficient.  I just did one on my Win7 machine and it's clean.  Be sure to reformat in the camera.  Peeps making this a major project...

No problem Treoctone.

andyadler, you may be, technically correct but I saw this post as someone searching to make sure a disk "reasonably" wiped.  If the data were extremely delicate I would recommend erasing it with a cutting torch... multipass of course and maybe running the remnants through an old food processor before flushing them down a toilet... or something to that effect.

andyadler ?

Now that's not a typo you would want to put into Google!

^ Hot and a Sports reporter? Niiicccceeee!!!

LOL! My apologies! andyalder!

Thank you.   Very helpful.