What happens to computer files that get deleted. Where do they go?

Question

So, what happens to the filles when you reformat a hard drive?

Answer 1

Think of deleted files these ways...

LIMBO _ they end up in limbo (Recycle Bin) when you press delete key, ready to be restored! After all, they are "recycle ables"!

PURGATORY _ they end up in purgatory when you press Shift and Del keys together, they can no longer be seen anywhere, but still can be resurrected via Restore Programs that hunt down the bits & byte on the hard disk drive.

HELL _ is when you change your mind after reformatting the HDD, cause it has become a pain in the butt to restore files. Yes, it is still restorable using specialized Search & Rescue programs!

OBLIVION _ is when you use a eraser program to truly "delete" or shred a file to a state where it no longer exist as intelligible data!

So remember, never sell your pc until it has its HDD data totally shredded!

Answer 2

Unless you did a "secure delete" all that happened to the file was the pointer to the location on the hard drive where the file was stored got deleted, not the actual file.

If you need to recover the file, recover it quickly as once the "pointer" to the file is erased, another pointer can be crated to point to the same location on the hard drive where the original file was and allow a new file to be written in its place.

Answer 3

The "finder" bits are changed so the file is still there, the system just can't find it anymore. It's like taking the card catalog out of the library. The books are still there, but the PC says "No way am I looking through all that".
Many programs will get it back if u need to.

Answer 4

It relies upon on what operating equipment your utilising, alongside with what document equipment your utilising. as an get mutually, on abode windows utilising FAT32 or NTFS, a deleted document is truly merely deleted from the document allocation table. To the operating equipment and the casual viewer, the document looks deleted. even if, the document isn't quite deleted. it continues to be there until eventually the operating equipment overwrites the section on the disk the position the document replaced into once. it really is the reason some classes can get better deleted archives. to quite delete a document, it not in straightforward words needs to be removed from the document allocation table, even if the section on the disk the position the document is residing needs to be overwritten. There are classes you will get that attempt this for the time of addition. ~X~

Answer 5

They don't really go anywhere. The blocks they occupied are put on a list of "empty" blocks, so they can be reused, but the data is still in the blocks if you don't have an eraser program.

Once the disk blocks are used for another file, the data is overwritten and more or less lost.

Answer 6

There is something like a table of contents on the harddrive which has every single file. When you delete a file, it is taken out of this "table of contents", but the actual file is still there until another file takes it's place.

Answer 7

they go to the recycle bin. From there they turn into a temp file that never gets deleted. A MS windows tech could jump on your computer and see all files you deleted.

Answer 8

Computer files are not truely deleted from your computer unless they are overwritten with a new file. Thats why the FBI can retrieve information from someones computer and monitor activity.

Answer 9

Deleted files should be in your Recycle Bin unless that has been emptied recently.

Answer 10

They just hang around on your hard drive until over written....unless..you use a program like Eraser (free) that overwrites them