I bought a 3d printer off Ebay which got delivered not too long ago, and it came with 2 sd cards - one with a build video and some demo print files, but worryingly another card that has all the previous owner’s personal files on there.

Not sure whether to format it, or to contact the seller offering to send the card back (free of charge)… how would you prefer to be approached in a similar situation?

Edit: No gcode files are on the card, just 30gb of pictures, music and videos. Sent the seller a message offering to upload it to cloud or to send the card back

  • The Pantser
    link
    786 months ago

    Firstly, never stick a storage drive into your personal machine that was previously owned by an individual. If you need to use the drive always open it on a machine disconnected from the Internet that contains no personal files. Better would be to boot up a live Linux machine and read the drive and format if needed.

      • @BassTurd
        link
        206 months ago

        It doesn’t have to be about someone stealing your data. I had a situation where a user got some malware on their USB drive that deleted other user files when plugged in and replaced them with porn or something. It’s just good practice to not plug unknown devices into your computer all willie nillie.

        • Big P
          link
          fedilink
          English
          06 months ago

          Windows doesn’t autorun by default these days iirc, I don’t think there’s any zero interaction remote code execution bugs that are unpatched either. The only way you would get compromised is by running something or if the usb device pretended to be a keyboard which I don’t think is commercially available in sd card format

    • @LufyCZ
      link
      -46 months ago

      Autorun doesn’t exist anymore.

      As long as you don’t open any executables, you’ll be fine.

      What’s the chance that the seller has a 0day (which would be veeery valuable) and is using it to steal data from someone random? Not worth it for sure on their side.

      • @[email protected]
        cake
        link
        fedilink
        English
        34
        edit-2
        6 months ago

        While autorun doesn’t exist anymore, there’s many many other methods of attack via usb.

        Here’s a list with 10 seconds of searching:

        https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/heres-a-list-of-29-different-types-of-usb-attacks/

        It’s entirely possible this drive was made maliciously to pass on data from whatever unsuspecting soul uses it. The seller op bought from could even be a victim themselves. You just never know.

        • @LufyCZ
          link
          56 months ago

          We’re talking about an sd card here. The absolute majority of these attacks only work with USB drives.

          And the rest either don’t make sense or make use of a 0day, which, as I’ve already said, is inconceivable

          • The Pantser
            link
            06 months ago

            How do you read a SD card? I usually put it in my SD card reader which is USB.

            • Max-P
              link
              fedilink
              106 months ago

              The SD card is still speaking SD protocol, the card reader bridges between USB and SD.

              This only works with USB sticks because they’re plugged on directly over USB and you don’t know whether it’ll present itself as a storage device or as a keyboard that immediately starts typing stuff and running a bunch of commands.

              The risk is not the flash storage part, it’s the USB interface.

            • Big P
              link
              fedilink
              English
              16 months ago

              But I don’t think OP is saying the package came with an sd card reader as well that they used

      • @MiltownClowns
        link
        156 months ago

        Best security practices are pointless if you disregard them because they’re inconvenient and unlikely to be necessary. Most needles I find on the ground are clean too, but I’m not just gonna stick them in me because the odds are in my favor.

        • @LufyCZ
          link
          -66 months ago

          Might as well get rid of your internet connection then.

  • @[email protected]
    cake
    link
    fedilink
    English
    54
    edit-2
    6 months ago

    Better to offer and they say no vs you just destroying data they can’t replace and didn’t realize they’d lost.

    Just send a quick email/DM. Couldn’t hurt. Could even send the data through dropbox or similar instead of the whole card.

    • @MissJinx
      link
      26 months ago

      First make sure it’s not CP 🤷🏻‍♀️

  • @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    186 months ago

    Reach out to them and ask. The card is now yours, but the data is theirs.

    I am sure if needed they can give you an online folder to upload the contents if needed.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      56 months ago

      Yeah I don’t see the need to return the card. But asking if they want the data seems sensible.

  • BuckFigotstheThird
    link
    English
    11
    edit-2
    6 months ago

    Upload the files to google drive or the like, send the seller a message with the link and an explanation. Give them 14 days to download it. Delete files.

    Idk how big these files are. Too big and my idea won’t work

    • davel [he/him]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      14
      edit-2
      6 months ago

      I wouldn’t upload my own files to the cloud, and in turn I wouldn’t upload someone else’s without their consent.

      It might have passwords, personal financial data, corporate trade secrets, health data, child porn—any number of cans of worms.

  • @ndupont
    cake
    link
    English
    -106 months ago

    I’m pretty sure he doesn’t care about random gcode files that won’t be usable on another 3D printer anyway.