Wipe, Shred, Delete, and Erase: Can you delete a file without deleting it, delete a disk without "wiping" it, shred a file without deleting it, and "delete" hundreds of files at a time that have already been deleted?
I probably got you mad. I refer to the four English terms wipe, shred, delete, and erase that sometimes are used as if the Greek term was deleted but are not.
Each word means that something different is done in a file, folder, or even somewhere that looks empty, but it is not, for example, on a hard drive, a flash drive, or some other storage device.
Let's look at the difference between concepts and what they do:
Delete or Delete: "Hide me, but I'll be here if you need me again"
The term delete or delete, is used too much and means I erase something. The truth is that when you delete something on your computer, smartphone, digital camera, or anywhere else, you just hide it from yourself. Data that appears to be deleted is still there.
Deleted files, especially recently deleted files, are very easy to recover with some data recovery software, many of which are available for free on the internet.
In short: when you delete a file, it is not deleted, you just hide it.
Erase: "Are you sure; You will never see me again! ”
The English term erase is what most of us mean when we want to get rid of or try to get rid of files.
Erase into the world of technology, means something has been deleted for good.
There are three generally accepted ways of erasing: wipe or scrub using a special program designed to disturb the magnetic field of the disk or elsewhere we store the data. The third way is to completely destroy the device.
In short: when you Erase to a file, it will be impossible to retrieve it.
Above we mentioned the terms wipe and scrub. And the two they concern ways of erasing data and the main difference between them is the scope of erasure...
Wipe: "Erase everything"
When you wipe on a hard drive or some other storage device, you will delete (with the term erase) all the files that are currently in it, as well as anything you have deleted in the past and may still exist.
Programs that can make wipe across drives are often referred to as data destruction programs. They work in addition to simply deleting and overwriting the data on the disk with zero values.
In a nutshell: by wiping a drive, you completely and permanently delete it.
Shred: "I'll erase it and only it"
When you do Shred in data (shredding) you can erase (in the sense of erase) only the one you have chosen, and only that.
Shredding individual files, like wiping the entire disk, not only deletes the data but also replaces the "empty" space with some motif of 1's and 0's.
In short: with shred you can completely and permanently delete individual files.
Because shredding is something you can do whenever you want, in a small collection files, tools File shredding is often installed and used on a regular basis as a way to actually delete what it is that you would otherwise delete.
But what about Format? Does Delete or Erase in Files?
Many have the impression that simple format is a way of permanently deleting data. Error.
In any version of Windows, a choice quick Format does not erase the data from the disk but a simple delete. This is also why Format is so fast.
In Windows XP, the formatting process, no matter how you do it, is a simple deletion of data. The reason it is delaying is because it checks the disk for any problems.
In Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, and Windows Vista, a regular format (non-fast) also automatically makes a one-pass, with zero data replacing the old ones (over the old ones). It's a very simple wipe that will remove any data from your disk.
