BF2S Forums Where a file goes when you empty it out of the recyle bin.

I saw a previous thread on this that was closed for obvious reasons, but it asked a good question, "Where does a file go when you empty it from the recycle bin?"

   The answer is simple, it does not go anywhere, emptying a file out of the recycle bin simply unlinks the file from the file directory system (NTFS or FAT), leaving the contents of the file in the disk sectors. The "unlinked" disk sectors are then flagged as deleted and moved into the free space category where they may be written over again. This is why you can sometimes recover "deleted" files from a hard drive.   

   Defragging may permanently delete a deleted file because it moves around all the "free" disk sectors which might separate a file. Not even a format will permanently delete a file, it just "unlinks" all the files on the hard drive. To permanently delete a file from your hard drive you need to get a DOS program that will write a random sequence of letters, numbers and symbols across your entire hard drive at least 3 times, THEN the file (and everything else on your hard drive) will be permanently deleted.



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