Deleted Data (Files and Objects)

What happens when data (file or object) is deleted?

File deletions can occur when you delete an individual file or a parent folder, bucket, or account. When a file is deleted on Wasabi (either through the S3 API or the Wasabi Management Console), the following actions take place:

• The file is marked as “object delete” from an internal state perspective. The file is no longer accessible through the S3 API or Wasabi Console.

• The deleted file meta-data is deleted from the Wasabi database.

• The deleted file content is deleted from the Wasabi storage disk, and the space previously occupied on the disk is securely overwritten through a Wasabi process known as compaction. Once the secure compaction process is completed, the disk space is available for use with other files.

Once a file, folder, bucket, or account is deleted on Wasabi through the S3 API or Wasabi Management Console, Wasabi Support cannot recover the deleted content. At this point, the content is permanently deleted from Wasabi.

If you are concerned about unintentional deletions from Wasabi, consider using the Versioning feature and/or the Compliance feature (which allows you to lock the content in an immutable bucket).  

If a Wasabi storage disk containing customer content fails and must be replaced with a new disk, Wasabi follows a similar, secure process to ensure that the data on the failed disk is never accessible or recoverable. Wasabi’s erasure coding process ensures that the disk replacement process is transparent and non-impacting to a customer. File integrity and file access are always preserved.

Why can't I free up data for my quota when I delete files?

Wasabi calculates data every 24 hours when determining quota for buckets. If you attempt to free up quota space by deleting files, it may take up to 24 hours for that change to be effective in our system, allowing you to resume uploading of data.