How long does a file stays in the hard-drive after being deleted?
355785
Are Deleted Files Completely Erased?\n\nA common misconception when deleting files is that they are completely removed from the hard drive. However, users should be aware that highly sensitive data can still be retrieved from a hard drive even after the files have been deleted because the data is not really gone. Files that are moved to the recycle bin (on PCs) or the trash can (on Macs) stay in those folders until the user empties the recycle bin or trash can. Once they have been deleted from those folders, they are still located in the hard drive and can be retrieved with the right software.\n\nAny time that a file is deleted from a hard drive, it is not erased. What is erased is the bit of information that points to the location of the file on the hard drive. The operating system uses these pointers to build the directory tree structure (the file allocation table), which consists of the pointers for every other file on the hard drive. When the pointer is erased, the file essentially becomes invisible to the operating system. The file still exists; the operating system just doesn't know how to find it. It is, however, relatively easy to retrieve deleted files with the right software.\n\nThe only way to completely erase a file with no trace is to overwrite the data. The operating system will eventually overwrite files that have no pointers in the directory tree structure, so the longer an unpointed file remains in the hard drive the greater the probability that it has been overwritten. There are also many "file erasing" software products currently on the market that will automatically permanently erase files by overwriting them. \n\nhttp://www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Hardware_Software/2002/Erasing_Deleted_Files.asp\n\n\ndeleting files is not actually a good term to use. When you delete a file for example:\n\nFilename.txt\nthe file name changes so it may look like this:\n12lename.txt\nThe change of the file name hides it from you and leaves it on the computer. Often a disk ustitility can shread this information which means that it is overwritten a bunch of times causeing the file to become harder to recover. \n\nSo say I had a deleted file like \n\nFilename \n\nI would overwrite the file with 00000000 more than one time. \n\nMy example is easier for me to understand... LOL
1172314
If the file in in your computer ie. My Documents, it will delete, if you saved it on a flash drive or similar device make sure that is connected!!
93150
Do you want to find them, or delete them? Not so self explanatory. Short of formatting the drive and doing a government wipe, bits and pieces of whatever is on there, will stay on there. Recovery software, generally, is only going to restore the operating system.
991040
when you delete a file, it actually removes the directory info so it appears not to exist, it is still on the disk however until the physical space it is on is overwritten with new data
456248
No, You are right to think that it remains on you hard drive but as far as you computer concerned it is free space and nothing has ever been there.
533534
IT READS ALL THE CLUSTERS AND GIVE YOU WHAT IT FINDS ,\nCOS WHEN U SAY DELETE , WINDOW WILL NOT REMOVE ONTIRE FILE , IT WILL ONLY LEAVE THE TRACK OF THST FINE . AND WHEN IT HAVE TO WRTE NEW FILE IT WILL OVER WRITE ON THE DELETED FILE
183935
Here is a good program to recover files that were deleted. The sooner you use it the better as once the deleted files have been written over with something new you are pretty much out of luck.
179656
When you delete something it doesn't really go anywhere, the operating system just "forgets" that it's there and will eventually write over it in favor of something else. It would take too much time and wear on your hard drive to write over every file you delete. So until the space is used again, whatever you've deleted (or pieces of it) are still sitting there on your hard drive.
157897
The hard drive does have a magnetic trace of previous files until they have been written over a certain number of times.  This trace can be retrieved by certain software or hardware.  If you suspect that the computer you have has had illicit material on it, then I'd suggest you overwrite these files.  One freeware program that I've heard of does this.  It's called Eraser.  You can find it by going to the site below and searching for the "Software/Project"  and "Eraser".
692729
If you just deleted a file regularly, you can restore it from the Recycle Bin (Windows) or Trash (Mac). If you did a full delete, like Shift-Del or emptied the recycle bin, then you have a chance of recovering it using a utility such as Norton Systemworks, which has Unerase. If you've done a lot with your computer since you deleted it, good luck, you might get someone to recover it professionally by paying money, but otherwise it is gone forever. As for contacting your network administrator, that person is usually whoever is in charge of setting up computers around your place. If you're at home, whoever set your computer up is the administrator. Pretty much anyone who knows a lot about computers would be the administrator. If you're at a business, then there is probably someone in IT that is the admin.
667089
it delets the directory information, the files are still on there untill they are overwritten, but are not easliy accesible, but you have no reference to them, they are virtualy erased, unless someone who knows how to retrieve the data gets a hold of it. For the avarage user though, it effectively removes the data from being accesed
348116
if they are just in the recycle bin open it up and return them if you emptied it windows will have just changed one letter or number in its title to make it seem to be gone so try software such as filesaver or evidence blaster this finds and lists deleted items tells you how complete they still are and lets you recover them also lets you completely delete items from your hard drive
620193
There are different programs that will "undelete" the items you need.\n\nFreeUndelete is a freeware data recovery program for deleted files. \n\nAbove is a free program that will work for you. Link below takes you to it.\n\nIt is not as hard as some people make it out to be. Don't listen to the people that think it is gone for good, they just are unaware of the different programs.
794859
Define "completely deleted"....\n\nIf you simply delete a file, then the area of hard disk that it previously occupied is marked as unoccupied. The data is technically still there.\nIf you _shred_ a file, then the disk space is similarly marked as unused, but first it is overwritten with random nonsense several times, to obliterate any previous data or any signature of the previous data. Generally speaking people only do this when they have particular reason to - most users need not shred anything unless they're totally paranoid.\n\nRawlyn.
677461
It depends on the size of your hard drive, and the speed of your cpu, and how full your hard drive is, and also how badly fragmented the drive is. It can take as long as 1 to 2 days, or as short as 30 to 60 minutes. Patience is required as you have discovered.
198331
The area of the drive used to store the files is marked as available, but the data remains there. When something else needs to be saved, it may be saved to that area of the drive (because it is marked as available.) If it is, the previous data is destroyed. Until such time as the data is overwritten, it can be recovered using special programs. In some cases, the data can be recovered even after being overwritten, but the process requires a professional and is rather expensive. ($1000+).
730657
You may delete it, but it is not gone.  There are means of recovering it, used by police and other services.  The only real way is to take a hammer to the drive....................