What happens to the files on your computer when you “empty the recycle bin”?
In: Technology
Pretty-much nothing happens to a file when you *move* it *to* the recycle bin. It’s location changes as far as the file-location index is concerned, but that’s it.
When you “empty the recycle bin”, The file-location index “forgets” where that file is, and the storage space where that file is is now free to be overwritten with new information.
Since the file is still there, it can be recovered by using recovery software. Generally the first character in the filename is changed to a character the system chooses to ignore and the file can’t be “seen.” But the recovery software can see the file, rename it, and allow it to be copied over to some other storage space.
The only time a file truly goes away is if its file-space is over-written by a new file, or the file is obliterated through the use of file-shredding software. Shredded files bypass the recycle bin and are just replaced with meaningless, random data. There is pretty-much no way to recover a file after that.
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