What's the best way to wipe an Android phone?

[duiewfhliwfef]

I have a T-Mobile HTC Hero. One thing I did, was reinstall the operating system, by downloading an updated OS from the T-Mobile website, and installed it using HTC Sync.

According to HTC Sync, this wipes everything on the phone and installs the new OS..

But is this actually the case? Does this really completely wipe the phone before installing it?

What I am looking to do... is completely wipe the phone, and then install the new OS. If I've already done that, good. If I haven't, I need to.

If you go to Settings and do a factory reset, that only resets user settings and removes applications. It doesn't wipe the OS and everything on the phone. As said, I need to do all of that, and the install the new OS.

----------

UPDATE: Someone at androidforums.com answered my question, regarding using HTC Sync to install a new OS.

http://androidforums.com/android-lounge/505915-best-way-wipe-android-phone.html

Yes, it formats /system as well as /data and /cache (the latter two are all that a "factory reset" does).

 

[Devinator]

I have a T-Mobile HTC Hero. One thing I did, was reinstall the operating system, by downloading an updated OS from the T-Mobile website, and installed it using HTC Sync.

According to HTC Sync, this wipes everything on the phone and installs the new OS..

But is this actually the case? Does this really completely wipe the phone before installing it?

What I am looking to do... is completely wipe the phone, and then install the new OS. If I've already done that, good. If I haven't, I need to.

If you go to Settings and do a factory reset, that only resets user settings and removes applications. It doesn't wipe the OS and everything on the phone. As said, I need to do all of that, and the install the new OS.

If you wanna wipe your phone, do a factory reset, that puts it back to exactly how it was when you got it. Can you do over the air updates? If so, factory reset, then do an over the air upgrade. If not, factory reset and download/install your update, like you said, and your phone is wiped and updated.