When deleting a file to the recycle bin and then emptying the recycle bin does that really delete it permenatly or does it leave behind traces of files cuz i just deleted a very huge amount of files i didnt need anymore personal files and for some reason i have an odd feeling they were really deleted for good can anyone tell me anything about this?
There are softwares that will allow you to "find" deleted files, RecoverMyFiles is one of the better ones.
Try downloading it, and see how much stuff it still finds, that you thought was "gone".
ok i just scanned it using the free trial and it found over 3000 files that i deleted now the ? is how can i really delete the ones i dont want so i can free up space
"Deleted" files are not really gone until that same spot is over written by new info. However, the space is available, you can consider it "free" for use.
There are probably software packages available to permanently shred the deleted info beyond the reach of the Recovery programs.
Why bother? Worried about CSI? lol. Perhaps if you have extremely sensitive, ie. Classified info on your harddrive. Most do not. If you are only concerned about a nanosecond of performance, I would not waste my time and resources.
no just alot of spyware program traces that i manually removed and some files that are not important but mainly im not worried about deleting them i just was wondering if it really deleted them and thanks for that answer i really appreciate it
Just adding a bit more info to what's already been posted.
Back in the day of DOS...it was really easy to recover files with Norton's disk doctor by remembering the first letter of the file. You replaced the "deleted" first letter of the filename, and voila....you have your file back.
That hasn't changed.
Windows only removes the first character of the filename. Then, in the FAT (allocation table) it's marked as free space (as rulisky mentioned). The operating system will use that space for more data as you add it. When it goes to write data to the same area, it's like writing on a chalkboard that you barely erased...you can see a ghost image of what was first written. So the data can still be somewhat recovered after the first, second or even more sequential writes/rewrites.
However..if you really want to remove data from your system that starts on the list of being unrecoverable, the data must be overwritten at least seven (7) times. Most secure erase programs have that as a minimum option. The max is 35 times. (yeah...for big files it takes a while...sometimes hours to overwrite with the 35 pass)
Google "file shredder" .. or check out O&O's Safe Erase. Works great, and you can manually set Safe Erase to shred with any options. Including the recycle bin, and right click menus.
Keep in mind though....when using this kind of software, be extra careful what you delete...as it's not going to be recoverable. (debatable obvious by what method you use...but if you use the 35 pass .. it will not be recoverable at all)
