(August 20, 2015 at 1:47 pm)excitedpenguin Wrote:(August 20, 2015 at 6:56 am)pool Wrote: The only way to truly "erase" data instantly would be to replace the address space of the data that is being deleted with a seemingly senseless collection of bits simultaneously whilst deletion.
But that would pave way to even move complications and inefficiencies.
Consider this set of bits:
1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1
Now imagine that you want to delete these bolded bits:
1 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1
Typically,to delete those bits the bits would have to be "shifted" like this:
#1 : 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0
#2: 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0
#3: 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0
As you can see,the previous data has been replaced with even more data,in a particularly inefficient manner which would take a relatively considerable amount of time for huge size's of data,even for 1 or 2 gigabytes of data.So technically speaking,your computer wouldn't be able to free space when you delete something because that particular data would have to be replaced with unrelated bits to actually delete the data.Hence the reason why OS's follow the current method.
I don't know how programs like CCleaner operate but i would never trust them completely.
I think they can overwrite like 36 times over the wiped data - that's an extra option, and if you ask me the best one - so it's basically doing exactly what you're saying except it's not overwriting with meaningless data but with other "meaningful" data - which is serving the same purpose really.
But when I made this thread I wasn't so much talking about information on PCs as about info in general in this technological era. I'm talking about whether future generations will be able to take advantage of our recording capabilities in order to study our times. I was hoping we could banter in that general direction. - And something about the internet. Will future people be able to study internet archives and so on?
Yeah sure.Future generations would be able to make use of the information.Information will always be available for everyone what matters is whether they can make use of it i guess
