hi there all i think this is the right forum for just general chit chat bout windows so i hope im posting in the right place =] Anyway yer i was just wondering where do the files from the recycle bin go? i mean like when you delte a file it goes to the recycle bin but then when you empty the recycle bin they ju dissappear. I was just wondering what hapns? like what does windows do to the files? I mean they can't just go *poof* and they are totally forgottn. yer anyway like i said just a random question thats been pzzling me for some time lol thnx for any help chris
Windows simply removes the first character of the file name and then marks the disk space as being 'free'. Deleted files are recoverable. Only way to permanently delete them is to overwrite the space the files used by using secure erase programs. Defragging also helps in damaging the files by placing more information back into the same space the files first existed...though unless they were deleted by the above method, they can still be somewhat recovered.
so by character u mean the first letter / numb / symbol? so lets say we deleted a mp3 called "the poison" then it would remove the "T" tht belonged to the first word "the" which would then mean it doesnt exist anymore? or am i gettin the wrong end of the stick? lol
The recycle bin is not a true folder as much as it is a 'listing folder' so to speak. No files are actually moved there. It's just a collection of information of the files that are to be 'deleted'. Once you decide to empty the bin, windows goes and removes the first character of the actual file then marks it as open space. Any letter or number in a file's name is represented by a 1 or 0 or a combination of them. The actual file itself is still there. In this case you wouldn't be referring it as the letter "T", but 00100111000 that the T represents. (for example) But, overwriting that area using a safe erase method will overwrite the entire space the file used with 1's and 0's making almost impossible to recover any part of the pre-existing file.
recover my files software can recover any files you delete, unless you over write as state above. there are other small program that can properly delete without recovery...like Power Desk, you set up the cleaning method. I'm sure there are freewares out there too.
Programs like SafeRecovery from O&O can recover files that were accidentally deleted....however even O&O states that if you used O&O's SafeErase...the files are truly deleted and unrecoverable.
Overwrite programs only work against software based recovery programs. Even Pentagon/Military grade overwrite programs cant completely destory a file, the data is still on the HDD platter as a residual data. There's still the physical recovery hardware to deal with. One way to completely destory data is to completely destory the HDD; the HDD platters. Shred, crush and burn the platters and no recovery method is gunna recover anything lol Anywho enuff of my ranting.. Deleting a file simply removes it from active listing in Windows. Rewrites over the space that file was occupying with new data
Okay, say I deleted a lot of files. Is there a way to permanantly delete those files after they are already "deleted" (but there still there, so to speak)? What I mean is, after I empty my recycling bin, is there any way to delete that space after I emptied the recycling bin? I hope this is not too confusing.
This is where shredding programs come into play like O&O SafeErase. Which adds itself as a right click menu option to the recycle bin. You choose the erasing options, and instead of using "empty recycle bin", you use "securly empty the recycle bin". Other shredders have similar options.
Technically, the data never really goes anywhere. In the case of a FAT32 drive, Windows just removes the pointer in the FAT that pointed to the beginning of the file. Without the pointer, the file cant be located. If data is not written over the clusters previously occupied by said file, the data just sits there as open and available space. Data recovery programs read the raw data of the drive and can see the data in the cluster and can re-link it to all of its other clusters till the file is reconstructed, resulting in a recovered file. If part of the file (random cluster/s) is overwritten by new data, odds are that you are not going to get that file back. OK, I feel better now, and I'm done rambling. ~Rich
