Where do deleted files go? Do they really get deleted and if so, how?
In: 1
Imagine like a giant piece of grid paper. Files are lines written on the paper. At the top of the sheet is a list of what lines are where on the paper.
When you delete something, all the computer does is erase the line at the top of the sheet telling you where to find it. So it’s still there if you went line by line on the giant sheet of paper, but it would take days to find it by searching for it.
But *also* since the bit at the top was erasing, they might reuse that bit of paper next time you make a new file. Since it thinks there’s nothing there. Then it will be gone.
The FBI or whatever has a tool for noticing the faint lines of erased and written over files, but it’s super expensive to do.
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