[1] However, FRCP 5.2 requires that sensitive text – like Social Security number, Taxpayer Identification Number, birthday, bank accounts, and children’s names – should be redacted off the filings made with the court and accompanying exhibits.
Expungement, which is a physical destruction, namely a complete erasure of one's criminal records, and therefore usually carries a higher standard, differs from record sealing, which is only to restrict the public's access to records, so that only certain law enforcement agencies or courts, under special circumstances, will have access to them.
There are occasions, like expungement, where one can truthfully state under oath that they have never been convicted before.
Most of the time, a record seal has more relaxed requirements than an expungement.
If an expungement is not allowed with a case, then sealing a record may be the best bet.