In Windows, when you delete a file it is actually not really deleted from the drive.
So, if I delete a file that is 2G and my hard drive only has 2G free, then
I create a file that is 2G, is the file really deleted now?
Deleted files
Re: Deleted files
If you write to all bytes of the 2 gb new file you created, recovery of the old file becomes more difficult.
Re: Deleted files
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Last edited by PB on Thu Jun 26, 2014 9:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
I compile using 5.31 (x86) on Win 7 Ultimate (64-bit).
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Re: Deleted files
@spacebuddy
There's no guarantee that all your old data will be overwritten.
The OS may have allocated and deallocated part of the 2G for other purposes between you deleting the old file and creating the new file. So you may not be overwriting all of the sectors originally used by the old file. Some of your old sectors might now reside, unchanged, in files belonging to another task.
If security is your concern, you're better off to overwrite the file with garbage data before you delete it.
There's no guarantee that all your old data will be overwritten.
The OS may have allocated and deallocated part of the 2G for other purposes between you deleting the old file and creating the new file. So you may not be overwriting all of the sectors originally used by the old file. Some of your old sectors might now reside, unchanged, in files belonging to another task.
If security is your concern, you're better off to overwrite the file with garbage data before you delete it.
For ten years Caesar ruled with an iron hand, then with a wooden foot, and finally with a piece of string.
~ Spike Milligan
~ Spike Milligan