So i was enjoying some down time for myself the other night taking a nice warm bath and letting my mind wander when i suddenly recalled a time when i worked at a research station and some idiot managed to somehow delete over 3000 excel spreadsheets worth of recently collected data. I was charged with recovering the data and scanning through everything to make sure it was ok and nothing deleted…must have spent nearly 2 weeks scanning through endless pages…and it just barely dawned on me to wonder…exactly…how the hell do data recovery tools collect “lost data”???
I get like a general idea of like how as long as like that “save location” isnt written over with new data, then technically that data is still…there???? I…thats as much as i understand.
Thanks much appreciated!
And for those wondering, it wasnt me, it was my first week on the job as the only SRA for that station and the person charged with training me for the day…i literally watched him highlight all the data, right click, and click delete on the data and then ask “where’d it all go?!?”
In: Technology
Files are not deleted.
A file on a computer is the data on the hard drive and a notation that says the file exists and where it is.
When a file is deleted what really is deleted is the notation that says the file exists and where it is. The file is still there.
But since the notation no longer exists, when more space is needed the computer will write over the old file.
So a deleted file remains until a new file is written over it.
Think of it like throwing out an aluminum can. The can exists until they melt it down and turn it into a new can. We just treat a thrown out can as no longer being a can.
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