Other day in computing, our teacher told us that once you format a hard drive, everything that was on there (files, video, images etc) are gone forever, and cannot be found.

 

 

 

However my friend said that any file can be found on a computer if it existed at one time?

 

 

 

Who is right? It would be cool if I could get back some music I accidently deleted, and then cudnt get back 'cause the CD was broke. -.- However, my friend also mentioned something about the time the file was deleted? (I'de kinda turned off by this point because he bores me when he gets going) lol.

I'm not really sure of the validity of what I'm about to say but I think that when a file is deleted, it's split into 7 parts and scattered across the hard drive. You'd need some pretty advanced software to recover it, I believe.

 

 

 

However, that could just be complete crap that I've heard. Someone else should be able to verify this for me.

i know for a fact that you can get them back, i know the police do it all the time.

 

 

 

When u hit the delete key the computer knows you no longer want it so it marks it so it can write over it at a later date when the space is needed.

 

 

 

Im not too sure about this next bit but i will say it anyway, i think if the file you want to get back has been deleted for a long time and you have installed alot of new games put alot more music on etc then it will be gone forever.

 

 

 

I think you can buy data recovery programmes but i have never used them so i have no idea how good they are.

Both to an extent. There are ways to recover them, but you can also use special utilities to format multiple times (Hundreds even) to prevent this. Usually it just makes it more difficult though.

Unless you do a Zero Fill format (which rewrites all the data on the HD as 0s), there is a possibility that you can recover files with special software. (I believe that's what it's called?)

 

 

 

As people have already stated, when a file is "deleted" from your computer, it is simply broken up into fragments and spread over the hard drive space, waiting to be rewritten.

Even aftear a zero fill you can still recover data. The Department of Defense requires all drives be overwritten to every sector at least 3 times. first with a 0, then a 1, then a random value. It's then checked to make sure nothing remains. For top secret information they start with 7 passes instead of 3.

Even aftear a zero fill you can still recover data. The Department of Defense requires all drives be overwritten to every sector at least 3 times. first with a 0, then a 1, then a random value. It's then checked to make sure nothing remains. For top secret information they start with 7 passes instead of 3.

 

 

 

Wouldn't it just be easier to smash it into tiny little pieces, then set fire to it?

Actually, some hackers that work in big corperations use this method to retrive information from other workers, which includes Website Historys, Cookies, Files/Pictures, keylogs and other incriminating information.

once you have formatted a hard drive, its wiped clean. everything on it is gone.

 

But people like police techs can probably get some info back, something along the lines of taking it apart, doing something with it. plugging it in as a secondary hard drive and running some stuff over it.

Even after a reformat you can recover stuff. You don't need special equipment either. I once had a harddrive pretty much die on me. There were multiple bad blocks, but the Maxtor's Maxblast utility fixed them. I couldn't even boot the drive though. I used a live CD and fixed all the superblocks on the drive and it fixed it. Basically all the blocks that told the computer there was stuff on the drive got erased. Which is basically what happens when you delete something. By forcing the computer to look for stuff on the drive it fixed it.

it can be recovered, unless u want to format ur comp several hundred times... or blow it up...

Snagged this little tidbit from Wired...

 

 

 

PC: Go to http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/download.php and download the free eraser app, which uses a process rigorous enough to meet Pentagon standards.

 

 

 

Mac: Overwriting is easier on a Mac. (What isn't?) Choose "Secure Empty Trash" from the finder menu and the skeletons in your hard drive are toast.