Can a file be deleted forever? What exactly happens when you “delete” a file, and how easy is it to retrieve it?
You’ve probably seen it on crime dramas like CSI or NCIS: the investigators get their hands on the bad guy’s computer, and with a few strokes of the keyboard are able to reconstruct everything the bad guy thought he had deleted.
You might think those scenes are fake TV tech magic — and it’s true that they’re responsible for popularizing a lot of forensic myths. You can’t create pixels out of thin air to magically enhance a low-resolution image, and getting your buddy to join in on the same keyboard probably won’t help you stop a hacker in her tracks.
While some of those scenes are obviously poking fun at the ridiculousness of TV technology, recovering deleted files isn’t relegated to the realm of fiction. “Deleted” files can be simple to recover, if you know what you’re doing.
That’s because when you think you’re deleting a file, it usually stays right on your computer until it’s overwritten.
The specifics of what happens when you delete a file depend on your operating system and the type of hard drive you’re using. With Windows on a hard disk drive, when you delete a file you’re actually deleting a “pointer” to the file: a sort of bookmark that the system uses to find and retrieve your data. But the data itself is still there, marked as free space and ready to be rewritten with new data. Until it’s written over with new data, it’s completely recoverable.
For many users and most files, this system works perfectly. But if you want to protect sensitive data from falling into the wrong hands – whether your a government whistleblower or a mere blogger – it’s just not enough.
Whether it’s legal files, medical information, banking details, passwords, or other personal data you don’t want complete strangers knowing, you have a right to privacy on your own personal computer. Here’s how to ensure that your “deleted” files are actually destroyed and gone for good.
Your Guide to Deleting Files Forever
Passwords, emails, bank details and address books – chances are, your computer contains plenty of personal information about you. Though dragging and dropping documents into your computer’s trash folder is easy – it doesn’t mean they’re really deleted.
Here’s how to ensure your deleted files permanently disappear from your hard drive.
What You Do: Right-click a file and select Delete (PC) or Move to Trash (Mac). The file is moved to your Recycle Bin (PC) or Trash folder (Mac).
What Actually Happens: The file remains on your hard drive BUT is simply placed in a new directory.
What You Do: Right-click the Recycle Bin/Trash folder and empty it. The file is removed from your Recycle Bin/Trash folder.
What Actually Happens: Links to the data are now deleted BUT information still exists on the hard drive. How much depends on the computer and operating system you use.
A file is only completely eliminated and becomes unrecoverable when it’s overwritten with other data – like scribbling something out with a pen.
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