Computer people...?

Question

If I delete something from the recycle bin, where does it go... I'm sure the computer still stores it somewhere.

Answer 1

Well... it deletes it. When you completely delete a file from the recycle bin, it just erases the first couple bytes of data from the file so the computer sees it as free space. It's still in the same spot, but the computer thinks it's not there.

Really the only way to recover it is by using a data recovery program such as Bad copy pro.

Answer 2

Without going into too much detail basically the data is written to disk and consumes some amount of disk space. A pointer exist to locate the start of the data so that applications can read that file. When you delete the file, Microsoft (and Mac I think...don't use it so not sure) move that pointer to a state where it is in the "recycle bin. Once you delete the file from the recycle bin, the file pointer is removed but the data will remain on the system. Removing the pointer to the underlying data essentially indicates that the disk space is available for reuse. If you have a relatively large disk, that data could remain for a long time before something eventually overwrites it. On a smaller disk, the chance of reusing the portion of the disk where your file was increases. Recovery applications analyze the disk and attempt to recover files without pointers.

Answer 3

There is a hidden folder in the \windows directory called 'recycled'; you can only see it if you set your folder options (start>settings>control panel>folder options>view) to display hidden files and folders. Anything you delete is kept there until you empty the recycle bin. That is also why cou can restore things you've sent to the recycle bin. Hope this helped.

Answer 4

Yes, its very easy to get at it for most PC admins.
The record of the data you have can be recovered from as far back as ten "Generations" back, and recovered well
There are many different programs that recover data, many mostly linux based ( thanks to free source code). The cost of these programms for data recovery is not high, most of the best are between 79 and 99 dollars for 10 user licenses. However, there are some programs that will delete fully on the fly. Or you can regularly killdisk your PC, and the reinstall the programms.

Answer 5

It is still on the disk minus a few bytes. You can use a prog like uniextract to get it back. If you want to totally get rid of it you need to overwrite it (How when you don't know where it is) or shred it. There are progs which will totally free up the prog or file's bytes. Spybot has it installed. It works quite well.
If the cops come put a huge magnet on your hard disk :)))

Answer 6

Um im pretty sure it gets erased liek inside the computer when you delete it the computer runs and i think it is still ther just you can c it. And new stuff goes over it so its basically liek recycling.

Answer 7

Most of the files do go however the tiniest fraction is still stored with the registry / hard drive.
If the question you are asking how can I restore an item I deleted the easiest way is to run a system restore prior to the date you removed the application / file.

Answer 8

It gets stored into a temporary file which will get written over eventually. There is no easy way of deleting it without additional software (try secure delete) as it is "buried" deep inside your PC

however:
If you have a mac it should be gone for good! Hope that helps :-p

Answer 9

It is still on the hard drive, but will be overwritten when you load something else. There are ways to access it, I think, but it is quite expensive.

Answer 10

it can be found sometimes, but only with special software. like crime labs at some police stations have the ability to find stuff like that on your computer. but without that software, you won't be able to find it.