Where does data go?

[Lays]

when you delete stuff where does it go? I've always wondered but I'm to lazy to google for some huge scientific answer zz

[Volbet]

When you erase pencil with an eraser where does it go? These are the deep exsistential questions we must ask our self.

[Guest]

Depends how you delete it.. 

[Ghost]

There's a massive laser that burns your data when you press delete.

[JaeDee884]

I imagine it looks like this when you delete it

[foxhound590]

its just allocated as available and overwritten when necessary 

[snkmoorthy]

When a file is deleted, most file systems remove the entry from their file address tables, which means the area occupied by the deleted file's data is available for allocation. If no overwrite or only partial overwrite has happened, you can recover the data. On a FAT16 not sure which version,  the file address table entry was simply marked with a '$'  symbol (ex:xyz.txt when deleted became $yz.txt) signifying that the file is deleted(the list command simply will ignore entries starting with $ and allocation will consider entries for $ entry files for allocation). In this case you open a HEX editor, read the file address table and replace the '$' with something else and you can get the file back. In short, depends on the file system.

[wtfxmitchell]

you can't delete it, the NSA saves it all for you

[alpenwasser]

Windspeed36, on 19 Jul 2013 - 2:42 PM, said:

Depends how you delete it..

Very much ^^^this.

As snkmoorthy has said, it also depends on the file system. In very rough terms,

deleting a file and then emptying your recycle bin (or "Shift+Del" if you prefer less

work) usually simply tells the file system that the area previously occupied by the

file is now available for writing new data again. The file itself is often still there

until it is actually overwritten with new data (and there isn't really a way to tell

when this will happen unless you overwrite the entire disk or fill it to the brim).

Many DIY data recovery tools exploit this.

On the other hand, there are of course ways to securely delete data. AFAIK there are

special programs on Windows for this, whereas on UNIX-like operating systems one usually

uses /dev/zero or /dev/random and /dev/urandom for overwriting files with zeros or random

data, respectively, depending on how much security you want.

[Darell3]

In the recycle bin.

[IdeaStormer]

In the recycle bin.

 

That's just an icon and if it goes into the recycle bin where was it before <_<  Refrigerator, Cupboard, Coffee Table?

 

Its still there unless you performed some kind of low level reset with 1's and 0's or just 1's or 0's :P

[mr moose]

There is a little goblin that lives in your hdd, when you delete a file the Goblin eats it.   Some computers get slow and develop glitches or viruses because you are not deleting enough files and the goblin is hungry and starting to get sick.

 

To prevent viruses on your pc simply delete more files. :blink:

[loepa]

PC marks it as available. The data still exist. There are a few way to really delete it. but it's not effective and simillar to formatting harddisk.

 

So many troll reply lol.

[mr moose]

PC marks it as available. The data still exist. There are a few way to really delete it. but it's not effective and simillar to formatting harddisk.

 

So many troll reply lol.

Not me, I honestly believe that. :P  :D

[alpenwasser]

Well, this is nice timing. Vsauce just uploaded a vid on this a few hours ago:

[StrawBari]

Well, this is nice timing. Vsauce just uploaded a vid on this a few hours ago:

I was just about to post that when i scrolled down and saw it...