1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,560 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is sponsored by Harry's dot com. Get a 2 00:00:02,560 --> 00:00:04,840 Speaker 1: great shaving experience for a fraction of the price. The 3 00:00:04,920 --> 00:00:07,520 Speaker 1: quality of the shave is so important that Harry's purchased 4 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:10,080 Speaker 1: the factory that makes their blades. Fifteen dollars gets you 5 00:00:10,119 --> 00:00:12,799 Speaker 1: a set that includes a handle, three blades, and shave cream. 6 00:00:12,840 --> 00:00:15,280 Speaker 1: Go to Harry's dot com use the code brain stuff 7 00:00:15,320 --> 00:00:18,599 Speaker 1: to save five dollars off your first purchase. Welcome to 8 00:00:18,680 --> 00:00:22,320 Speaker 1: brain Stuff from how stuff works dot com where smart happens. 9 00:00:30,120 --> 00:00:32,839 Speaker 1: Hi Am Marshall brain with today's question how can I 10 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:37,400 Speaker 1: recover a deleted file from my computer? When the idea 11 00:00:37,520 --> 00:00:40,839 Speaker 1: of the trash can or the recycle bin became popular 12 00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:44,720 Speaker 1: on the Apple Macintosh and then in Windows, it immediately 13 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:47,920 Speaker 1: became a fail safe for many users. If you delete 14 00:00:47,920 --> 00:00:50,760 Speaker 1: a file and realize that you actually need it, you 15 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 1: can recover it easily by doing the following. In Windows. First, 16 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:57,280 Speaker 1: you open the recycled bin by double clicking on the 17 00:00:57,320 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 1: recycled bin icon on your desktop, or you can go 18 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:04,200 Speaker 1: to the recycle bin folder in Windows Explorer. Next, you 19 00:01:04,360 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 1: find the file you want to recover and click to 20 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:09,200 Speaker 1: highlight it. Then you go to the file menu and 21 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:12,360 Speaker 1: choose the restore option, or you can write, click over 22 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:15,520 Speaker 1: the file name and select restore from the menu. After 23 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:17,800 Speaker 1: you do this, the file is now back on your 24 00:01:17,840 --> 00:01:21,839 Speaker 1: computer in its original place. It's a great feature. While 25 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 1: the recycle bin is a great utility, there are many 26 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:28,200 Speaker 1: times that a file is not placed in the recycle 27 00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:32,280 Speaker 1: bin when it gets deleted. These include files from removable 28 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:36,400 Speaker 1: storage such as flash memory and zip disks, files deleted 29 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:41,440 Speaker 1: from within some applications, and files deleted from the command prompt. Also, 30 00:01:41,560 --> 00:01:44,319 Speaker 1: there are times when you'll empty the recycle bin and 31 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:46,680 Speaker 1: then realize that there was a file in it you 32 00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 1: wanted to keep. A common misconception is that the data 33 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:54,120 Speaker 1: is actually removed from the hard drive erased. That is, 34 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:57,560 Speaker 1: when you delete a file. Any time that a file 35 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:01,800 Speaker 1: is deleted on the hard drive, it's not actually erased. Instead, 36 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:05,480 Speaker 1: the tiny bit of information that points to the location 37 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:08,680 Speaker 1: of the file on the hard drive is erased. This pointer, 38 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:12,200 Speaker 1: along with the other pointers for every folder and file 39 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:15,200 Speaker 1: on the hard drive, is saved in a section near 40 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:17,680 Speaker 1: the beginning of the hard drive and is used by 41 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:21,560 Speaker 1: the operating system to compile the directory tree structure. By 42 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:25,800 Speaker 1: erasing that pointer file, the actual file becomes invisible to 43 00:02:25,880 --> 00:02:30,799 Speaker 1: the operating system. It's still there, it's just invisible. Eventually, 44 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:33,519 Speaker 1: the hard drive will write new data over the area 45 00:02:33,520 --> 00:02:36,440 Speaker 1: where the old file is located, but immediately after you 46 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:40,040 Speaker 1: delete it, it's still there. There are several hard disk 47 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:42,560 Speaker 1: utilities that you can find on the internet that will 48 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:46,760 Speaker 1: allow you to recover deleted files. What these utilities do 49 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:49,720 Speaker 1: is search for data on the hard drive that doesn't 50 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:53,800 Speaker 1: have a corresponding pointer information package and present you with 51 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:57,519 Speaker 1: a list of these files. Your chances of fully recovering 52 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 1: a file diminish the longer you wait after you deleted 53 00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:03,880 Speaker 1: the file, since the probability that the file has been 54 00:03:03,960 --> 00:03:08,280 Speaker 1: overwritten increases. Sometimes you can recover portions of a file 55 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:12,240 Speaker 1: that's not been completely overwritten. What if you really do 56 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:15,800 Speaker 1: want to delete something, Say you have financial information or 57 00:03:15,840 --> 00:03:18,400 Speaker 1: passwords or something in a file, and when you delete it, 58 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:21,120 Speaker 1: you really want to delete it and make it disappear 59 00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:23,799 Speaker 1: completely from your hard disc. What if you don't want 60 00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:26,360 Speaker 1: the file to remain on the disc after you delete 61 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:29,680 Speaker 1: it at all. There are other utilities you can find 62 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:32,720 Speaker 1: that will go in and zero out the files sectors 63 00:03:32,760 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 1: to completely remove that information. For more on this and 64 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:40,280 Speaker 1: thousands of other topics because that how stuff works dot 65 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:42,480 Speaker 1: com and don't forget to check out the brain stuff 66 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:44,520 Speaker 1: blog on the house stuff works dot com home page. 67 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 1: You can also follow brain stuff on Facebook or Twitter 68 00:03:47,760 --> 00:03:54,240 Speaker 1: at brain stuff hs W. Brain Stuff is sponsored by 69 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:56,800 Speaker 1: Harry's dot com. Get a great shaving experience for a 70 00:03:56,840 --> 00:03:58,920 Speaker 1: fraction of the price. The quality of the shave is 71 00:03:58,960 --> 00:04:01,960 Speaker 1: so important that Harry purchase the factory that makes their blades. 72 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,280 Speaker 1: Fifteen dollars gets you a set that includes a handle, 73 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: three blades, and shave cream. Go to Harry's dot com 74 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:09,400 Speaker 1: use the code brain stuff to save five dollars off 75 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:10,240 Speaker 1: your first purchase.