Help Nexus 5 broken screen - remove data

[daverob1]

Hi, I have a Nexus 5 on which the screen has failed. I phoned Google in the UK and got an RMA and have received the new phone OK.

Now I need to send the old one back and I am a bit concerned about whether its OK to send it back when it still might have my data on it.

The phone vibrates and flashes with different colour screens when I press the power and volume buttons and sometimes the LED at the bottom flashes so I think the phone is otherwise alive apart from the screen.

I was able to adb to it soon after the screen failed but now I can't (yes I know should have wiped it then but heyho).

Is there a fool proof way of resetting the phone by hardware keys (or removing the battery ?) with a blank screen ? Failing that should I be concerned in sending what might be a phone with my data on back to Google ?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Mr. Lucky]

From your description, the only way I know of wiping the phone data now would be via Android Device Manager. Of course, this would require that you had already enabled it prior to failure.
Don't Forget to Set Up Android Device Manager Before You Lose Your Phone | Gizmodo UK

 

[jhawkkw]

Did you ever unlock your bootloader? If so, does the computer recognize the fastboot devices command? If yes, you should be able to wipe it by flashing a factory image

 

[daverob1]

"From your description, the only way I know of wiping the phone data now would be via Android Device Manager. Of course, this would require that you had already enabled it prior to failure."

The phone would have to connected to the internet for that to work I presume ? I can see the phone in Android Device Manager but it can't be contacted.

 

[daverob1]

Did you ever unlock your bootloader? If so, does the computer recognize the fastboot devices command? If yes, you should be able to wipe it by flashing a factory image

fastboot does not see the device unfortunately.

 

[daverob1]

"From your description, the only way I know of wiping the phone data now would be via Android Device Manager. Of course, this would require that you had already enabled it prior to failure."

The phone would have to connected to the internet for that to work I presume ? I can see the phone in Android Device Manager but it can't be contacted.

Actually just managed to Ring it from ADM after I put my working SIM in it - excellent.

Now I can erase the data. Is there anything else useful I can do remotely to access my data ?

 

[JBentleyR]

Is it possible to delete files by connecting to your computer via USB?

 

[jj14x]

Now I can erase the data. Is there anything else useful I can do remotely to access my data ?

What data are you specifically looking for? (asking to make sure that it is not already auto-backed up)