What is meant by overwriting a file? How do you do you overwrite a file? If you reboot a computer is a file still retrievable even if deleted from the recycle bin before? Thanks
by 
1Simmy
ANSWERS: 2
-
When you delete a file from a hard disk, floppy, etc., by simply throwing it into and then emptying the recycle bin, all that the computer does is mark the space occupied by the file as being available for use in the disk's directory. The file is still there until that space is actually used to save more data. This is why secure erase applications actually go through and write over the the space on the disk. In writing over that space the program erases the original data. With the state of modern data recovery programs, it can actually take several passes of saving data to completely erase a file. There are a number of program that will do this. Personally I use one of two programs. On my Mac I use the Secure Delete which is part of the StuffIt Deluxe suite of programs. On my (holding nose against the stink of typing this) Dell laptop I use PGP Shredder, part of the PGP suite of personal security programs. However, if you go to www.version.tracker.com and search for "Secure Delete", you will find a bunch of other programs that you can use. Some of these are free.
-
Overwriting a file means that it's contents has been replaced by some other content. Like when you copy a file from one location to another, edit it in its new location and then move it back to its original location. You changed the content of the file and now your overwriting the original file with your changes. About rebooting. If you delete a file from the recycle bin it is not retrievable even if you reboot. There are ways to recover files from hard drives but it is expensive and you cant do it on your own without help from a company or some special software. I hope this helps. If you need more feel free to leave comments.
Glenn Blaylock RELATED QUESTIONS
Copyright 2023, Wired Ivy, LLC