Important Notes on Data Deletion and Memory Card
Disposal or Transfer

Memory cards are today used for many purposes in homes and offices. The storage device inside a memory card records important data belonging to the user.
When the user disposes of a memory card or transfers it to another user, this important data needs to be erased from the memory card.
Unfortunately, completely erasing the data from a memory card is not as simple as it sounds.

Generally, "erasing data"is assumed to consist of an operation like the following.

In reality, however, these operations only change the file management information pointing to the data stored on the memory card. The actual data is still present in the media, but is no longer visible to the user.
In other words, the data appears to have been deleted, but in fact has only been made inaccessible by a Windows® or other system. The data itself remains in internal memory.
As a result, it may be possible using special data recovery software to gain access to this data. Someone meaning harm may view the data and use it for unintended purposes.
In order for memory card users to avoid having important data leaked from a memory card when the card is disposed of or transferred to another party, it is extremely important that the user take responsibility for deleting that data. Recommended methods of deletion include use of special software or outside service (both of which may cost money) to overwrite the data on the card, physically destroying the data using a hammer or the like, or in the case of a hard disk drive, magnetically erasing the data with a strong magnetic field.
Note that transferring a storage device to another user without erasing the software (OS, applications, etc.) stored on it may violate or otherwise affect the software licensing provisions. It is important to be aware of and observe all such provisions carefully.