“Deleted” Files: The Truth About What Really Happens When You Delete Something

Written by Guest Author: Daniel Escalera

What happens when you delete files? Do they really go away forever? Can you recover deleted files?
First it’s important to know that all files in your computer are stored on your hard drive. Any time that you want to access a file the Operating system will contact the MFT Record and request the location of the desired file. This system is called Master File Table and it’s designed to assign addresses to every bit of information that is stored on the Hard Drive. In other words, when you delete a file from your computer and from the recycle bin, the file does not actually get deleted. What actually happens is that the reference to that address where the data is located, gets cut and that space is now marked as “available” to the Operating System so it can be reused. This makes it possible for software like Recuva and others to restore deleted files by fully scanning the drive and trying to recreate the files that are still on there. However, this must be done immediately if something was deleted accidentally, since as soon as this location is marked “available” it might get used up by the Operating System and the file will not be able to be recovered.  If you ever lose or accidentally delete any files you can try running file restoration software, like Recuva mentioned above.

With all of that being said, you may be wondering, how do I make sure files are completely destroyed and deleted?