files and stuff

[m-shell]

where does everything go after it's deleted from the recycle bin? is there any way to find it all again?

[rekstout]

Files which are "deleted" are marked as such and appear in the recycle bin.

The part of the disk where these files are stored will not be overwritten whilst the files remain in the recycle bin. When one empties the bin, the part of the disk allocated to these files is released for the system to use as it sees fit (file storage, virtual memory etc).

If the portion of the disk where the file was stored has been re-used then the answer is no - if you are lucky it will not have been used and may be retrieved using special recovery software. Norton Utilities used to have an undelete program - not sure about now.

[j2buttonsw]

Your data is still on the hard drive but the pointer to it has been removed and eventually it will be overwritten. You can get undelete programs but I have never used one so can't make any recommendations. Here is one from a quick google search: http://www.executive.com/undelete/undelete.asp