Are deleted files completely erased?

I wanted to know because I had a bunch of old files that I wanted to delete and actually did, but Are Deleted Files Completely Erased?

Thanks in advance

This question was answered on February 18, 2004. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

---

A common misconception when deleting files is that they are completely removed from the hard drive However, users should be aware that highly sensitive data can still be retrieved from a hard drive even after the files have been deleted because the data is not really gone Files that are moved to the recycle bin (on PCs) or the trash can (on Macs) stay in those folders until the user empties the recycle bin or trash can Once they have been deleted from those folders, they are still located in the hard drive and can be retrieved with the right software

Any time that a file is deleted from a hard drive, it is not erased What is erased is the bit of information that points to the location of the file on the hard drive The operating system uses these pointers to build the directory tree structure (the file allocation table), which consists of the pointers for every other file on the hard drive When the pointer is erased, the file essentially becomes invisible to the operating system The file still exists; the operating system just doesn't know how to find it It is, however, relatively easy to retrieve deleted files with the right software

The only way to completely erase a file with no trace is to overwrite the data The operating system will eventually overwrite files that have no pointers in the directory tree structure, so the longer an unpointed file remains in the hard drive the greater the probability that it has been overwritten There are also many "file erasing" software products currently on the market that will automatically permanently erase files by overwriting them

About the author

Posted by Student of Katharine Gibbs School - New York on February 18, 2004

Need Help with this Issue?

We help people with technology! It's what we do.
Contact or Schedule an Appointment with a location for help!