About Deletion...

[GamerMax5]

Okay this may seem like a retarded question but it's been bothering me for the longest time.

When you delete something, where does it go? And don't be a smart *** and say Recycle Bin because that's not what I'm talking about. Like when you format your hard disk, it deletes all the data on it. Well where does it go? It has to go somewhere because it can't just be destoyed.

[-TPM-]

When you delete a file all that happens is that the reference to it the in the file system tables is set to free space, and is left to be over written (when you save a new file). A quick format just sets everything in the file system tables to free space. A full format will for all intents and purposes over writes the entire disk.
Does that answer your question or is there something specific your thinking of?

[RobDog888]

Actually its the File Alocation Table or FAT that is like an index of where all the files are stored on the hd. When you delete a file it does like tpm posted and removes the index link to the sector of where the file is located. Quick format resets the FAT so all links are broken and index entries are deleted.

[GamerMax5]

So basically the file is never actually removed from memory, it's just flagged and then overwritten?

[RobDog888]

Yes, the us govt standard for security is to overwrite the sector with dummy data a minimum of 7 overwrites.

[thegreatone]

Yes, the us govt standard for security is to overwrite the sector with dummy data a minimum of 7 overwrites.

For which programs are freely available.

Hard Disk Scrubber is a program that overwrites all free space on a hard disk so that it may not be un-deleted. This will also securely delete files on your system so that they may not be recovered.This program is Freeware.

http://summitcn.com/downloads/hdscrub21.zip

I've tried this one personally, takes a few hours i'm afraid, but it does work.

[penagate]

Such programs that you can make yourself rather easily...

You'd think overwriting it once would be enough. After all it's just ones and zeros. The reason for multiple overwriting is due to the way hard drive platters work - I dont know the technical details but with only one or two overwrites the data can still be read, albeit only by an advanced data recovery machine. It takes work, but it can be done.

[-TPM-]

Actually its the File Alocation Table or FAT that is like an index of where all the files are stored on the hd. When you delete a file it does like tpm posted and removes the index link to the sector of where the file is located. Quick format resets the FAT so all links are broken and index entries are deleted.

I deliberatly didn't use the word FAT, as technically only FAT16 and FAT32 formats use FAT. NTFS for example uses MFT or Meta File tables.

[GamerMax5]

Wow thanks everyone. That really cleared up my mind. I just could never figure out what happened to the data.