Where Do Deleted Files Go?

Where do things go when they are deleted? Before we jump into Deleting Files, let us first know. What Delete even means. According to Google:

Is delete similar to forget? If it is, how does a computer forget? Moving a file to the trash is just the beginning. Moving a file into the Trash or Recycle Bin, a file remains on your computer on a Temporary Directory or a purgatory. From which it can be Permanently Deleted, or Restored according to one's needs. The action of permanently deleting is irreversible.

But does the Physical Space taken up by the file isn’t really emptied? It is Marked Empty. The space is kept aside if any new data needs space. If we go deeper into this concept. The file isn't really thrown away from your computer. The Pointers have moved away. Pointers are another type of data in the drive that points to places in the memory where there are actual files they are referencing can be found.

Confused? I got you covered. Basically deleting a file could be like deleting a chapter from a book, by going to the Content page, and marking the chapter “Empty”. But that doesn’t change the fact that if we go to the chapter marked as “Empty” on the content page. The contents of the chapter are still there.

There are a few Data recovery tools available that can restore the Deleted Data. Or in other words, they can de-mark the chapter as empty. They can save back the deleted data. But when a deleted File is overwritten, there is no comeback. The Files could be corrupted or merged with new files.

If you want to delete a file permanently and not leave behind a trace of it. You will have to overwrite the unwanted files completely, and deny the file a proper burial, and overwrite its corpse with new data. One overwrite is fine. But people go to extremes as 35 overwrites.