Deleted Data

Deleted Data is data that existed on the computer as live data and which have been deleted by the computer system or end-user activity. Deleted data may remain on storage media in whole or in part until they are overwritten or “wiped.” Even after the data itself have been wiped, directory entries, pointers or other information relating to the deleted data may remain on the computer. “Soft deletions” are data marked as deleted (and not generally available to the end-user after such marking), but not yet physically removed or overwritten. Soft-deleted data can be restored with complete integrity..”