A common misconception is that the data is actually removed from the hard drive [erased] when you delete a file. Any time that a file is deleted on a hard drive, it is not erased. Instead, the tiny bit [pointer] of informated that points to the location of the file on the hard drive is erased. This pointer, along with other pointers for every folder and file on the hard drive, is saved in a section near the beginning of the hard drive is used by the operating system to compile the directory tree structure. By erasing the pointer file, the actual file becomes invisible to the OS. Eventually, the hard drive will write a new data over the area where the old file is located.