Does "delete" actually delete the infected data in Avira Antivirus?

[Core1019]

Hi,

I'm planning to build a new computer soon, using my current HDD as a storage drive (with the OS going on a new SSD). For that purpose I want to format it after backing up the data that I want to keep from it. However, my external hard-drive that I was planning on backing the data up to has some viruses on it. I plan to format the external HDD before backing stuff up to it anyway, since it's all old stuff that I don't want any more, but I've heard that some viruses can survive the reformatting.

Since this is the case, I figured I'll get rid of the viruses first with Avira (I'll finish the scan tomorrow, I don't want to leave my PC on overnight); but I'm curious if "deleting" the files with Avira actually wipes that data clean, or only removes the path to the file as normal deleting does?

I want my new PC to be sparkly clean, and I definitely don't want old viruses on it from the get go! So I want to be as thorough as possible.

Sorry if this is too much information, but being specific tends to help in tech problems.

Thanks in advance.

 

[unksol]

just delete the partition and reformat it. You're wasting your time with a virus scan.

 

[rockie_]

deleting an infected file i.e. removing the reference to it is enough since cant be executed the jump operation without knowing the address on the disk

 

[mdd1963]

So to summarize, we will be deleting files,.... then the partition, then creating a new partition, and then reformatting?

 

[PreyTheSun]

just delete the partition and reformat it. You're wasting your time with a virus scan.

Yeah, a solid reformat should just solve this issue. NO data, NO problem. Nice fresh install should be squeaky clean and then you can put in Avira to keep it that way.