I received an Open Box PocketBook Era (PB700) yesterday.
When I looked through the eBooks on the device, I was surprised that some of them didn't seem like eBooks that could be offered for free in the USA, since I had purchased some of them quite recently from major publishers.
Out of interest, I continued to set up the device to see if the device was not properly factory reset OR if there is a factory reset issue.
I then factory reset the device.
When I set it up again today, all of these items I loaded persisted after the factory reset:
Luckily, the device seems to have deleted the Wi-Fi Network SSID and password, but I am not tech savvy enough to be sure.
Questions:
With other eReaders I have used, my understanding is that if the information on the disk cannot be truly "erased"(=overwritten with enough data), then it is scrambled/encrypted after Factory Reset. If the device is logged in to an account (i.e., NOOK or Kindle), then the connected account has the key to unlock any of the content.
Even if this is because I did not sign into a PB account, is this expected and normal behavior?
In any case, I do not think this is normal behavior for an unregistered eReader. I will always be concerned with selling my Readers secondhand now.
Besides deleting and factoring resetting and filling up the drive with large files filled with nothing, what should I do to ensure this doesn't happen when I go to sell an eReader (especially a PocketBook)? I have experienced external HDDs not being truly erased after using a 7-pass wipe from Mac OS, so in that case, I physically destroyed the HDDs entirely. But with an eReader I want to sell...I don't want to destroy it.
- I set the device up offline.
- It shipped with Firmware: 6.8.2911 (January 12, 2024).
- It had some 1400 eBooks already on it.
When I looked through the eBooks on the device, I was surprised that some of them didn't seem like eBooks that could be offered for free in the USA, since I had purchased some of them quite recently from major publishers.
Out of interest, I continued to set up the device to see if the device was not properly factory reset OR if there is a factory reset issue.
- I loaded 30 eBooks.
- I made notes. I installed KOReader.
- I connected to Wi-Fi (a temporary Wi-Fi that is not my real network).
- I manually updated the device to Firmware: 6.8.3246 (March 14, 2024).
I then factory reset the device.
When I set it up again today, all of these items I loaded persisted after the factory reset:
- All 30 of the eBooks
- All downloaded RSS News feeds
- All Notes / Annotations taken in the 30 eBooks
- All manually loaded TTS voices
Luckily, the device seems to have deleted the Wi-Fi Network SSID and password, but I am not tech savvy enough to be sure.
Questions:
With other eReaders I have used, my understanding is that if the information on the disk cannot be truly "erased"(=overwritten with enough data), then it is scrambled/encrypted after Factory Reset. If the device is logged in to an account (i.e., NOOK or Kindle), then the connected account has the key to unlock any of the content.
Even if this is because I did not sign into a PB account, is this expected and normal behavior?
In any case, I do not think this is normal behavior for an unregistered eReader. I will always be concerned with selling my Readers secondhand now.
Besides deleting and factoring resetting and filling up the drive with large files filled with nothing, what should I do to ensure this doesn't happen when I go to sell an eReader (especially a PocketBook)? I have experienced external HDDs not being truly erased after using a 7-pass wipe from Mac OS, so in that case, I physically destroyed the HDDs entirely. But with an eReader I want to sell...I don't want to destroy it.