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I have a nexus 7 1st gen, which has a cracked screen.
I am planning to repair and got a quote from a local store.
But, before handing over the device to them, I would like to clear my data on the device.
I heard that the data can be recovered even after a factory reset.

Is there an application or a way to remove the data completely, just like zero-fill, so that the data wiped / removed cannot be recovered?

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Reset to default
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The recommended way is to go into Security -> Encryption. Encrypt your phone, which takes several hours. Then do a factory reset.

Others will have no way of recovering your personal data.

Additional Info:

It works much like BitLocker on Windows. When you start up the phone, you'll be required to enter a password before loading Android OS (or the Recovery Mode). Afterwards, none of the applications running on the OS will even notice the encryption.

What the encryption does is:
1) make it extremely difficult (i.e. for all practical purposes impossible) for other software to recover the /sdcard/ files (e.g. user data) after a factory reset.
2) prevent external applications and operating systems from reading those files without first decrypting it, which requires Android OS to load.

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  • Will encrypting the data on device, encrypt data in cloud? Can I sync my data from cloud later without encryption?
    – Rohith
    Commented Oct 17, 2014 at 3:01
  • It works much like BitLocker on Windows. None of the applications running on the OS will notice the encryption.
    – HSuke
    Commented Oct 17, 2014 at 3:43
  • Other sites suggest to fill dummy data, even after a factory reset with encrypted data. And there is an application Secure Erase with iShredder 3
    – Rohith
    Commented Oct 17, 2014 at 7:45

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