system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How do computers really delete things?

Say I have a file on my computer that is 50 megabytes. I put it in the recycle bin, and then clear it all. How does the hard drive clear that data out, and how do I get that 50mb of storage back on the computer?
gpt
The file is likely still there at first. All that is done is the memory addresses are now flagged as open and the OS removes pointers to it. However, since the space is now free, creating a new file may overwrite the deleted one.