Do the Files We Delete From the Phone, Computer Disappear Into Nothing, Or Do They Go Somewhere We Don’t Know

If you have tried to restore your deleted files even once so far, you must have wondered what the status of the deleted files is. Do the deleted files magically disappear? Let’s explain the answer to this question simply.

First, we need to understand one thing: how is data stored on our computers?

Normally, when we delete data from our computer, it is moved to the trash can. If you do not clean the trash can for 30 days, the data there will be automatically deleted. And when this process takes place, do the files disappear completely? In order to answer this question, we first need to understand how data is stored on our computers.

There are two types of memory in our computers, volatile (RAM) and auxiliary (ROM) memory. Of these, volatile memory is the data stored on your device for a short period of time on its name. As soon as you turn off the power to your computer’s power supply, the data stored in the RAM disappears.

What we call ROM is storage units such as a USB, DVD or HDD. These are forms of memory in which the user can store most of their data. Most ROMs contain ferromagnetic elements inside, and one ferromagnetic element contains scattered magnetic poles inside.

Data is stored in memory by magnetizing magnetic dipoles in a certain orientation. In this way, the computer can show this permanent data to the user whenever the user needs it.

Let’s get to the main question: what happens when we delete a file?

Windows keeps a record of all files located on the hard drive. This registration process is done with the help of tools known as “pointers”. Each file or folder on the hard disk has a pointer that tells Windows where a specific file is located on the hard disk.

When you send a file to the trash and clear the trash, Windows removes the pointer and changes the file location status to ‘available’. In the operating system, the file appears as no longer located on the hard drive, and the sector containing the file is considered free space. New files, on the other hand, are overwritten by the space occupied by this old data.

So how can we recover deleted files then?

Actually, the answer to this question is very simple. As we mentioned, Windows still keeps it in memory when you delete a file, it shows the space it occupies as free space. Of course, this only applies until a new file is written on it.

If Windows has not overwritten any new data on the deleted file, you can easily restore the deleted files. Even for this reason, many data recovery programs can easily restore files that you have deleted only recently in their exact form.

In other words, to summarize; volatile memory (RAM) external to other permanent and auxiliary storage units (ROMs) does not magically disappear the data when it is deleted, because it processes it magnetically to the disk when it saves data. Instead, it counts the space occupied by that data as empty and overwrites the new data.

In this way, you will have a chance to restore files that you have deleted especially recently.