Definition of soft hard resets please .

Question

Some confusion of late and as i am only a newbie to smartphones  it would help if the matter was cleared up mas i may have been given wrong advice ..
Below is the first post i came across on the subject and the rules i have therefore followed .
Is it right or wrong . I have already proven on my phone 7370  reverts to factory settings and wipes all data as does three fingered salute  likewise 7780 just reverted settings  with no data loss .
Original post below .
With all these operations I recommend you TAKE OUT MEMORY CARD and DO A BACK UP OF YOUR STUFF!!!
NOTE: In front of the hash key ( #) there is also a STAR key that people often miss and state that the code does not work.
1.. *#7780# - Restore factory settings - resets all the settings to the default ( you will not lose any data) Make sure you back up your data as you will lose all of it when you perform option 2 or 3 on this list. The default code for ALL operations listed here is 12345.
2.*#7370# - Reformat your phone (out of the box, tho keep in mind that most newer nokia phones at least n series, e series and s60 based phones have udp - user data preservation so not ALL data may be lost. still it is a good idea to always do a back up of your stuff.)3. This you perform as a last resort. Nothing else is working.If the phone is not showing any activity, proceed with hard formatting , turn off your phone, hold the following buttons while pressing the power button. (the default code is 12345)
3. hard reset - hold the following buttons * (star key), 3 (number button) and talk/green key. turn on the phone and do not release those buttons until you see the Nokia boot up screen. once you feel the phone power up you can let go off the power button while still holding all three buttons ( for Nokia 5800XM - use the following buttons to do a hard reset, /GREEN/RED/CAMERA keys pressed all at once on power up. this will only work on 5800's that have firmware version 20... and up. ) For Nokia N97 (unofficial version but works) is SHIFT /SPACE BAR / BACKSPACE while holding the power button. Again do not let go until you see the handshake screen.

Answer 1

larryj wrote:
Thanks for the useful definitions! Could you please tell me what the difference is between the hard reset and reformat?
the difference between hard and soft reset is that hard reset can be perfomed even when your phone is "dead".
Factory settings reset. Type *#7780# and the phone's lock code (Nokia's default lock code is 12345). This reset restores the phone's original settings.
Soft reset. Type *#7370# and the phone's lock code.
Warning!Soft reset deletes all the phone's data (C drive).
Hard reset. Switch the phone off. Press and hold three keys together, the green key, the * key and the number '3'. While you are holding these keys, switch the phone on. Don't release these three keys before you see the Nokia hands logo.
Warning! Hard reset (as soft reset) wipes the C (phone memory) drive.
Hard reset for N97; Press shift + space + delete and turn the phone on at the same time. Don't let the three keys before you see the Nokia logo(or the country selection screen)
Hard reset for 5800; Press green + red + multimedia button and turn the phone on
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