Are those files truly deleted after you empty the recycle bin?

Photo: Cottonbro / Pexel

When you delete files and then empty the recycle bin or trash on your computer, the files are not immediately erased from your storage device. 

Instead, the space they occupied is marked as available for new data to overwrite it. 

Until new data is written over the deleted files, they can potentially be recovered using specialized data recovery software.

However, if new data is written to the same storage location, it can overwrite the deleted files, making them much more difficult or even impossible to recover. 

Therefore, while deleted files are not permanently erased right away, there is a risk of them being overwritten by new data, especially if the storage space is limited and actively used. 

To maximize the chances of recovering deleted files, it's best to avoid using the storage device after realizing the deletion until recovery efforts can be undertaken.