We daily delete many files from our PCS and ppcs including video files ,music , photos etc and then go to the recycle bin to empty it from there but WHERE do they go from there??? strange question ...DOES Anybody know the answer???
the files stay on your hard drive but are marked to be written over whenever you add more files to ur hard drive. so essentially when u delete something, its still on your computer until u rewrite over that sector that was previously the home of the deleted files. thats how the FBI recovers data from hard drives. the only real way to wipe a hard drive is to partition and write zeros to it.
molesaied88 said:
the files stay on your hard drive but are marked to be written over whenever you add more files to ur hard drive. so essentially when u delete something, its still on your computer until u rewrite over that sector that was previously the home of the deleted files. thats how the FBI recovers data from hard drives. the only real way to wipe a hard drive is to partition and write zeros to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the answer....
molesaied88 said:
the only real way to wipe a hard drive is to partition and write zeros to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
even then it might not be completely wiped clean. think of the hard drive as a flat piece of metal and when ever you write info on it a small dimple is pressed into the metal plate. when it is written over another dimple is made, but there is a small ring from the last one. there are people out there that can go back and read the dimple rings like rings in a tree and recover data that was thought to be gone.
above is a simple illustration. the real workings of a hard drive are more complex.
well the REAL way to completely wipe clean a hard drive would be to take out the discs inside and put them near a very powerful magnet. but that would make the hard drive unusable afterwards... so if the feds are comin for ya, you know what to do
You have one of two options. You can either:
use software to write to the HDD using DoD spec or better. (read up on it here) or
you can use a magnet.
Degaussers a.k.a. bulk erasers are purposely made for that reason. Check this site out for actual products.
I personally like what I refer to as the 'dimple maker', a.k.a. the 'CD/Optical Media Eraser & Declassifier - DOD/NSA approved'.
After you have your hard drive wiped via software or degaussed, you can have it professionally shredded too.
interesting !! thanks to all
If you ever need to check for the deleted files, I believe the Resco File Explorer has a "Recycle Bin" feature. It's almost a reason for me to buy it.
Related
Good day all. I have spent three days reading this forum, great stuff. I bought the SK Tooks program and have deleted the PTT button per another thread. I have also set up the internet sharing like my 8525 per another post, many thanks for all the above.
One I did not find. I want to delete unneeded programs and games. I am on the AT&T ROM. When I go to Settings|Programs|remove Programs, only a few are shown. I would like to delete the following:
Programs|
Media Net Home
AT&T Mall
AT&T Music
Cellular Video
Push To Talk
Programs|Games & Apps
Get TelNav
MobilTV
Plus a few others probably. Am I out of luck?
From what I understand those things are on the ROM and can't be removed unless you flash the ROM with something else.
Actually, all the bloatware programs are in the menu you accessed. But, you apparently overlooked the sub-menus. Go back to the Window directory and with a little searching, you will find them and be able to delete.
Also, for the sample games, open the Java folder and there is an option under menu to remove all of the files.
Some people have gotten around this by doing a hard reset, then before the AT&T customization starts, do a soft reset. I used this method, however, I still found all the .exe's still in the file system, so I still had to do some deleting. Until I get situated with flashing a ROM, this is probably still the best way to go, but I feel the dark side pullin me in slowly but surely. Too bad MS (and hardware manufacturers in kind) have yet to figure out that the way to sell something is not to stick a bunch of annoying trial crap in your face, but to actually offer some compelling features. It irks me that I have to spend hours cleaning up the mess that they made. Don't we get enough junk mail/ spam/ TV Ads/ web popups, etc, etc, etc?
Trial ware is easy money for most hardware manufacturers. They get paid for loading that crap on your device and try to spin in to their users like they are trying to help them.
prubin said:
Actually, all the bloatware programs are in the menu you accessed. But, you apparently overlooked the sub-menus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do not see any sub-menus on the AT&T ROM. I deleted those in Java, thanks. But thy re still in the menus, now with broken links.
jgermuga said:
Some people have gotten around this by doing a hard reset, then before the AT&T customization starts, do a soft reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did that. I lost MS-Office which is an important program to me.
Okay, a different angle, is there a way I can remove the icons in the menus to clean up the way the menus look nd keep scrolling to a minimum. Then I could just leave the programs.
Any ideas. I have SK Tools to edit the resistry.
I did the soft reset after hard reset trick, and I did not loose Mobile Office. Try again.
removal instructions...
if you did a soft reset before the customazition starts..i recommend that you do another hard reset and don't stop the regular projess. the customazitions has important files that we need as well...so just do a hard reset and follow the instruction belove.. I got the solution for you to stop showing the broken links.
I am on att as well..so on my tilt. here is what i did..
first to gain at least 10mb I deleted the files under documents/myringtones..and the trial games are under java ..programs/tools/java and delete them on options..
here is the big trick you are asking..if you wanna delete them from the programs menu..you don't need the registry edit programs..
just go to windows/start menu/programs//// and delete any program you don't want to show on programs folder...it will look much cleaners...after all the processes i gained 15mb of storage memory..
good luck
When I tried to delete unwanted bloatware, I was unable to. I even check properties using Total Commander and tried unsetting the read-only attribute, no go. How do you guys do this?
to delete unwanted icons from the program menu go to
/windows/start menu/programs
then just delete whichever icons are associated with the demo games you deleted.
Can somebody explain why would you suggest manually deleting the files and applications as opposed to doing the "reset" method after doing a hard reset?
Am I missing something by doing the "reset" method?
lately my cd-rw/dvd rom (combo- matshita ujda770) has been giving me some problems.
it reads CDs and DVDs perfectly but it has stopped burning discs.
it makes ticking noises when i try to write a disc. it has stopped recognising blank rewritable discs although it recognises blank CDs.
i have tried reducing burn speeds till 4x but still had no luck.
is there any software which can tell me where the problem lies.
nero gives a "track following error"
NTI gives "hardware error"
can any softeare tell me if the lens is ok (i've tried cleaning that too)
please help me! (or just tell me how much does a new dvd-writer costs for a laptop acer aspire 5500z)
thanks a lot!
Delete Upper and Lower Filters
Step 1: Start Registry Editor
Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK. Registry Editor starts.
Step 2: Delete the UpperFilters registry entry
1. In Registry Editor, expand My Computer, and then expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
2. Expand SYSTEM, and then expand CurrentControlSet.
3. Expand Control, and then expand Class.
4. Under Class, click {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
5. In the right pane (topic area), click UpperFilters.
Note An UpperFilters.bak registry entry may also appear. To delete the UpperFilters registry entry, you must click UpperFilters and not UpperFilters.bak.
6. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
7. When you receive the following message, click Yes to confirm the deletion of the UpperFilters registry entry:
Are you sure you want to delete this value?
The UpperFilters registry entry is removed from the {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} registry subkey.
Note Do not exit Registry Editor. You must have this program for the next step.
Step 3: Delete the LowerFilters registry entry
1. In Registry Editor, expand My Computer, and then expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE.
2. Expand SYSTEM, and then expand CurrentControlSet.
3. Expand Control, and then expand Class.
4. Under Class, click {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
5. In the right pane (topic area), click LowerFilters.
Note An LowerFilters.bak registry entry may also appear. To delete the LowerFilters registry entry, you must click LowerFilters and not LowerFilters.bak.
6. On the Edit menu, click Delete.
7. When you receive the following message, click Yes to confirm the deletion of the LowerFilters registry entry:
Are you sure you want to delete this value?
The LowerFilters registry entry is removed from the {4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} registry subkey.
8. Exit Registry Editor.
Step 4: Restart the computer
If problem persists, remove and re-install your CD Writing software(Nero), if issue is still not resolved, then there can be an issue with the optical drive itself. How old is the drive ?
sorry friend,i did all what u said but still i have the same problem.
my drive is 1 and a half year old.
but i still have doubts because it can read perfectly
btw thanks for ur help.
dumped that cd drive and got a new sony g520a dvd-writer for my laptop today for us$75.
All right mate, even i wuz about to advise you to get the lens changed
even thou laptop optical drives are more expesive then desktop ones
i doubt putting too much efford into fixing one would pay off
there are two lenses on a cd/dvd writer one for reading and one for writing. Just a fact i wanted to share
i think i must have screwed up the "writing" part of the writer!
by the way thanks rohit, rudegar and scousemartin for helping me.
one more thing.
now when i burn dvds using my new writer (using nero)
the buffer level (not on dvd drive but on hard disk) is always less than half utilised whereas the buffer on dvd drive is at 100%
this burner should write a dvd at max 8x but i get a max of about 6x.
is it any problem?
my luck is so screwed up.
today the new sony g520a dvd writer stopped recognizing dvds and is not burning dvds too. although cd read/write is fine.
its been just 3 months and this happened again.
i always write on sony media.
Damn, you have no luck
Reminds me of the days when i decided to stop burning discs altogether, buy 4 Seagate 500Gb hard drives and get them in a raid5 array... I had the same kind of issues you have : readers breaking too often, beloved discs unreadable, important data lost...
Hard drives are way safer (get a raid NAS), and cheaper per Go, and faster... i will never burn discs again i swear.
RAID can b a good option, but it's not always feasible to buy 4 500 GBs of HDDs , that too for a laptop. It's not that its gotta b your hardware (DVD writer) on fault. Can b operating system issue as well.
Uninstall and reinstall your burner application(Sonic, Nero), if you are usin' one. Try system restore, if this thing started lately.
Trust me, small simple things work wonders sometimes. Moreover it's NOT RECOGNIZING issue, check and reinstall the drivers, as well.
Good luck, mate.
Sooooo I foolishly formatted my SD card from FAT16 to FAT32 without transferring any of my files over to my desktop, therefore, everything has been erased...the cabs I dont really care about as I can just add them again, however the pictures are a devastating loss, there were many pictures on that card which I loved and would like to see again. I am aware that there is a tool somewhere out in googland (and hopefully xdaland) that allows me to bring back image files. If anyone knows the name or location of this tool it would be GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
Chris
(If this is in the wrong section, feel free to move, and sorry ;P)
I've used data recovery programs before but can't remember the name of which one i prefer. I'd recommend just doing a google search for either "data recovery software" or "picture recovery". There are many free ones out there so i wouldn't suggest buying one unless your too lazy to read up on which ones best.
If i remember the name of which app i've used before i'll post back,
Good Luck!
Solution is here
chrisrc1985 said:
Sooooo I foolishly formatted my SD card from FAT16 to FAT32 without transferring any of my files over to my desktop, therefore, everything has been erased...the cabs I dont really care about as I can just add them again, however the pictures are a devastating loss, there were many pictures on that card which I loved and would like to see again. I am aware that there is a tool somewhere out in googland (and hopefully xdaland) that allows me to bring back image files. If anyone knows the name or location of this tool it would be GREATLY appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
Chris
(If this is in the wrong section, feel free to move, and sorry ;P)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this
http://www.ufsexplorer.mobi/
if you format it i dont think you can recover it. formating wipes it clean. deleting simply deletes the address to where your data is located. recovery programs works by being able to relocate the data without the address.
@ denniegst: Somehow I don't think that formatting destroys data irrevocably. Otherwise utilities like Acronis Disk Director would be at least partly useless. And there would be no need whatsoever for things like DBAN, Eraser, Drive Cleanser... you name them.
@ OP: Provided you never saved anything on your newly-formatted SD card, there should be a very good chance of recovering your data.
At the time of typing this, I have a SanDisk-labelled RescuePRO mini-CD sitting on my desk. I got it with a memory card some time ago, never installed it, but it's supposed to save your bacon in situations such as these. Doubtless there are many others.
Ok, thanks for the posts guys, I believe I recovered the pictures. I used the RDMobile, thanks for the link!
slight problem, I ran the recovery, found the files, but when try to open it a pop up comes up saying;
There is no application associated with "Deleted SD Files"(what i called the backup) Run the application first, then open this file from within the application.
A bit confused on how to open the file to view my recovered files. any pointers
( I apologize for being a pest ;] )
...After looking through the settings, I thnk the problem might be where it asks me to define the file i saved...I am not quite sure what to define the file as?
sorry for the delay
I have not check these posts in a while sorry, the program you need is EZRecovery Pro, it will restore just about anything, deleted, formatted, raw etc.. do a Google/torrent search, by far the best and easiest recovery program I have found. And don't worry if you have written file to your card over the past few weeks, you would be surprised at how much data can be recovered even after a long period of write and rewrites. As always, if you like it, buy it.
try badcopy its good for memo cards and usb devices
I'm attempting to clean my hard drive to free up some space and have run into a few things I'm quite "iffy" about.
First off, I upgraded my MacBook from Tiger to Leopard a few months back. Since I've slowly disintegrated the amount of memory left on my HD. Now that I am deleting unnecessary items I have run into one big problem, I have a folder named "Previous Systems" on my HD. It consists of multiple folders and seems to be exactly that, folders from my previous system (aka when my MacBook was running Tiger) that have been recovered or were transfered over to the newer Leopard OS. The problem is that this "Previous Systems" folder and the folders within take up a whopping 17 gigs. I'd like to delete it to free up some memory but don't know if it'll affect my computer or delete necessary files. Basically I don't know if it was created as a necessity or just in case i wanted to recover some files.
HELP!!! WANNA DELETE BUT DONT KNOW IF I SHOULD/CAN!!!
From my experience professionally these "backups" made by the Mac OS X Installers are not necessary.
Of course each case is different depending on where you have your Applications and Documents Stored and What Kind of Applications you are running.
What I do Is I take the Previous Systems File, Move it to a External HDD. Then Delete of the Mac HD. Wait a few months and if everything continues working, which It should, then you are clear. If Applications start to whine about Links and Stuff Put it Back.
BTW when you say "memory" I think RAM, not Hard Drive Space, that's "Storage."
I will definitely try that then, and I'll remember to say "storage" next time. My mistake. Thanks for the input, attempting it right now...
I have got a probem which i posted in the below link...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=5948545#post5948545
but unfortunately havent got any response.
Hoping widening the audience may help
Any help will be appreciated.
----------------X---------------------------
Hi All,
I have been stuck up with a problem, not sure if this is the right forum to ask teh doubt..but as this thread is dedicated to Storage cards i thought to give t a try.
Recently i had used my phones storage card on a system and my card got affected by a virus. All the card name and files in it were changed to special characters. when i checked (again on my pc this time) there is no data on my card, its hodden and only a file called "Secret.exe" on my card. However on checking the properties i can see that the used memory is quite huge which means my data is there on teh card but is not visible.
I had some imp data on the card so not possible to format the card.
Does any one have come across this virus and knows the way to extract my data?
Any kind of help will be appreciated, as i have checked on google and am afraid have not been able to find even one perfect solution for this one on a SD card.
---------------------------------X------------------------------
Thanks a ton...
Haven't come across this virus, but if you type 'secret.exe' into Google there is a lot of hits, including a few with 'removal' in the title
May help, may not, but let us know how you get on
Thanks Fallen Spartan....
I had checked most of the links given by Google and they are mostly for the PC getting affected where in u need to change the some registries to see the files.
I have tried those but have not succeeded.
Tried several shredder softs to extract the data as well... i am not concerned over the card...its teh data which i badly require and i have no no backup
does your card have an "autorun.inf" file on it? if so delete it.
Yeah Josefcrist... my card indeed has an "autorun.inf" file on it... but i am not sure i am able to delete it... any special way...tried shift deleting it couple of times...
Use a data recovery software get what you can off card, then format your card nice and simple removal
Re: data recovery BadCopy Pro works well.
Thanks Stylez i will try this soft and will let you know...
I did try recovering the data through a diff soft though which didnt work...
My fingers crossed for this one
this doesn't work?
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_secret_exe
RAMMANN said:
this doesn't work?
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_secret_exe
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its meant for pc's not sd cards....look at nimish_fun's 2nd post. He has already tried solutions for pc's
a sdcard connected in drive mode or in a sdreader
can be scanned and cleaned with a normal virus scanner on the pc
same deal with undelete and anything else you can do with an external hd really
unless ur SD Card Reader is locked. then you have to move the switch.
stylez said:
Use a data recovery software get what you can off card, then format your card nice and simple removal
Re: data recovery BadCopy Pro works well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks a ton to all and stylez, this software really worked for me...i can't believe how easlity it extracted all the files for me...
One catch though it recovers and lets you preview all the files but needs the registration key to save the files... however in my case the key was worth buying
nimish_fun said:
Thanks a ton to all and stylez, this software really worked for me...i can't believe how easlity it extracted all the files for me...
One catch though it recovers and lets you preview all the files but needs the registration key to save the files... however in my case the key was worth buying
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's cool Glad you sorted and the software is well worth the price tag.
stylez said:
That's cool Glad you sorted and the software is well worth the price tag.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely ... Cheers!!