Submitted by unlikemike123 t3_z6wvdf in explainlikeimfive
Kriss3d t1_iy4to8g wrote
Reply to comment by unlikemike123 in eli5 How is computer memory deleted? by unlikemike123
Yes. That's how undelete programs works.
Think of a drive as a book. You got the list in the first part with the pages where each chapter begins and ends and what the chapter is called.
That's in the computer called a partition table.
And instead of a chapter it's a file. But pretty much like that.
So if you want to delete a drive you don't delete the actual pages. You just clear the index page where the name of the chapter is.
So if there's a range of pages that have no chapter name then it means you could replace the chapter with a new chapter ( so to speak) and add a chapter name for it.
This makes formatting a big drive quick. You simply erase all the names in the index.
All the data is technically still there.. But because the index said it's empty, the computer will Just overwrite that part and add a new name in the index.
That's actually exactly how a drive on a computer works. Ans also why you can undelete files or drives if they haven't been overwritten.
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