Neither operation writes over the file.
Moving a file to the Recycle Bin does just that – moves the file, and it is the same as any other "move" operation when the new folder is on the same disk: the filename entry is moved from its original folder to another, but the file's content is still on the disk and is not physically moved, modified or even looked at.
Deleting a file from the Recycle Bin (or deleting it directly using Shift+Delete) removes the filename entry from its folder. The part of the disk previously occupied by the file is still not modified or overwritten and still contains all the file data, but that data is no longer linked to a filename. That spot of the disk is recorded as "free", however, so future writes to the disk can reuse that space, and if you keep using the disk the space will almost certainly be overwritten eventually.
In the case that you need to prevent recovery of deleted data, special tools exist to overwrite the data securely. That is not done by default because it is slow and increases wear on the disk.
11Securitywise, ordinarily deleted files are recoverable partially or fully depending on the extent of overwrite. If you need to erase file data such that it's unrecoverable, you will need to use third party tools to "securely delete" the file and/or "securely erase" the disk free space. This involves writing zeros or random data once or many times over the space and it's time consuming (that's why the ordinary delete doesn't do it). – ADTC – 2014-09-28T01:36:12.763
@JaDogg What do you mean? – llllllllllllllllllllllllllllll – 2014-09-29T15:12:38.547
@JaDogg most of the 0/1 and what is it? A/F? Not sure, a bit rusty. But it all pertained to networking. The majority of it anyways. I'm new here so I can't comment on the other people posting questions about it as I haven't seen anyone else, but I don't doubt it. – Shea A. – 2014-09-29T15:37:30.293
You're wrong. When you "delete" something, Windows just moves it to the Recycle Bin, which is, basically, just a special folder. Even when you delete something from the Recycle Bin, it generally isn't overwritten immediately. (But the blocks become free to be allocated to other files, and then the data can be overwritten.) – G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica' – 2014-10-09T22:36:11.673
@ADTC, It's just a normal write isn't it? So why do you need third party programs? If I resave the file as
000000000000
orrandom_garbage_data_repeat_random_garbage_dat
before deleting, wouldn't that have the same effect? – Pacerier – 2015-07-09T05:01:44.103@Pacerier No, it wouldn't. Not always, anyway. When you save a file, you have absolutely no control over how the program is going to write your new saved file. Your everyday programs do not control how exactly the files are written on the hard disk, and therefore cannot ensure they will always be written in the same location. That is left to the operating system to decide, which naturally takes the most efficient means it is programmed to do. Third party tools fill the free space with zeros by doing low level writes on the hard disk, which is different from asking the OS to save a file. – ADTC – 2015-07-10T02:34:36.933
@Pacerier Assume you have a file that is written at sector A with the text "abcd1234". You open it in Notepad and replace the text with "00000000". When you save, Windows could write it out as a new file in sector B with text "00000000" and mark the old file as free space. The free space still contains your old text "abcd1234". Anyone reading the free space can see this text. The third party tool used to "secure erase" will find this free space and fill it with zeros, so that from then, anyone reading the free space will only find zeros, not your original text. – ADTC – 2015-07-10T02:38:15.453