"Refurbishing" old phones for charity
 

A company I know has offered me a couple of boxes of various blackberry phones to make suitable to give to a local charity.

I've played with two for a few days so I know my way around them. Obviously the company want all data permanently removed from the phones before they are passed on. They don't know how much data is on any of them but its certain that contact lists are there (probably containing non-public contact details of Directors and the like) and probably emails or text messages as well, possibly containing private contents.

I have used JL_Cmder/resettofactory to remove the BES from the 2 I've experimented on. This seems to have removed personal data. Question is, is this a secure method, or is it possible to restore the data somehow? And does it remove everything or could there be any details of the previous user and company hidden away somewhere?

They have all been used in BES environment, is there a better alternative to JL_Cmder or BBSAK to remove the BES features and data?

The IT dept think that some phones are password protected and IT failed to get the password from the user. If the password isn't known, is there anyway of me removing the BES? If not, is there anyway the IT dept can reset the password?

If any 3rd party apps have been installed, will the factory reset remove them, leave them on the phone but not installed, or leave them fully functioning?

Apart from unlocking them and using another SIM to check they can make/receive calls, is there anything else I should do to check functioning, or is there any changes I could make to the phones to create a better first impression for the new user?

In the box I have there are 18 phones, mainly curves of varying ages but also some touch screen devices (I don't know what models). I am told there are about another 30 or so phones if I can make use of them. Being efficient with my time is obviously important with this number of phones.
TIA

Re: "Refurbishing" old phones for charity
 

See the article on removing an IT Policy at blackberryfaq.co.

Remove IT Policy - BlackBerryFAQ

According to the article, process involves a security wipe.

Unless you have to remove an IT Policy, you may prefer to do a security wipe from the security options screen.

How to wipe ALL personal data from a BlackBerry device? - BlackBerryFAQ

(The articles may be old, but the concepts are the same.)

If encryption is enabled on the device memory, a security wipe will perform a very secure wipe. Otherwise, I'm not sure the security does any more than delete the data, but doesn't repeatedly overwrite the memory.

No advice on best way to do many, many devices. See what others say. You may have to figure it out yourself.
Posted via BlackBerryForums.com Mobile

Re: "Refurbishing" old phones for charity
 

On the password question, entering the password wrong the maximum allowable number of times will cause the device to wipe itself.

On user-installed apps, I belive reset to factory will remove them, but not 100% sure. If the security wipe initiated from the device provides the option to remove user-installed apps, you can use that. As I recall, on older models the security wipe delete data and settings but not third-party apps.
Posted via BlackBerryForums.com Mobile

Re: "Refurbishing" old phones for charity
 

this can be fun and I did it with 20 before

type 10 times wrong password to wipe it
upon reboot have to add in password on device
then you can reset to factory after with loader or BBSAK

Then look up latest OS for each model and upgrade them

Re: "Refurbishing" old phones for charity
 

Yes, it is a secure method. No, there's no way to restore the data, unless they had a backup of the data. Yes, it removes everything, it will be as if they just turned it on for the first time.

No, this is going to be the best bet to remove any IT Policies.

As stated above, enter in an incorrect password 10 times and that will wipe the device. However, the IT Policy will still be on the device, but the password will be removed. You will still need to do a ResetToFactory to remove the IT Policy.

It will remove all 3rd party applications.

Re: "Refurbishing" old phones for charity
 

Just did above resettofactory command on a 8520 that was on our BES

Pandora and Google maps were still left on phone.

Re: "Refurbishing" old phones for charity
 

I got the same deal over here. I have a bunch of BB's, all different models that I am sending out to a recycler\donation. Just like CECR I have an IT policy on them and I dont have the password to most of them. Putting in the password 10 times is not as easy as it sounds. During the process you get prompted to write blackberry a few times to make sure you arent pocket dialing. I have a about a 100 of them. Is there some type of way I can connect them to the computer and choose "set to factory". Doing it this way will take a 100 years. The recycler said they have a way to do it there but I must have them wiped onsite first. Is there any hope?

Re: "Refurbishing" old phones for charity
 

How do I wipe the BlackBerry using Jl Cmder? - BlackBerryFAQ

or

BlackBerry Swiss Army Knife

Re: "Refurbishing" old phones for charity
 

Hey Devnull thanks for these two applications.

I tried both and did some reading but they both ask for the password to wipe them. Am I missing something? Not having the password is the issue and i want to restore them to factory and delete all personal data.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Re: "Refurbishing" old phones for charity
 

Unfortunately, there is no way to accomplish this. BlackBerrys are known for their security and if there were an easy way to bypass the password, they wouldn't have the reputation they day.