![]() ![]() You can also use recovery programs to check whether an erasing program successfully overwrites your data. To test this idea, use a data recovery utility (such as Recuva or PC Inspector File Recovery) and see if it recovers any files. More than half of the previous file would still be retrievable! You could have thousands of clusters on your hard drive (a.k.a free space) that contain data you thought was deleted! Scary thought, huh? Even worse, let's say the file system places your 15.5 cluster file over the “unused” area of a deleted file that originally took up 35 clusters. That unused half cluster is known as “slack space”.ĭata recovery programs can read slack space and retrieve the data stored there. That remaining half cluster that was not used may still contain data from a previous file. ![]() Because the OS can't reserve a half cluster, the allocation table had to reserve 16 whole clusters for the file. If the data you're storing requires less space than a full cluster, the entire cluster is still reserved.įor example, you've saved a file that required 15.5 clusters of drive space. These clusters are of a fixed size which is normally determined by the size and number of partitions of the disk volume itself and the file system being used. The DOS and Windows file systems use groups of disk sectors, known as clusters, to store data. With the file location reference removed the OS now sees that disk space as being available for use. The only thing removed was the page number reference in the table of contents. This is like going into a book or magazine and removing a chapter reference from the table of contents. The operating system (OS) only removes the reference to the file from the file allocation table. When you delete a file it isn't really removed from the disk. Related Topics and Information How Does Your System Delete A File?
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