Deleted files...allocated space

[Comixion]

Ok, so once and for all just where does it all really end up?

Whithout further researching, I assume each HDD has some allocated space for files and such that are deleted from the recycle bin? If this is the case, how long is it there, is that where it all goes, and does it stay there? And how, if possible is it accessed?
Deleted files just don't vanish into thin air.

[jdrom17]

The hard drive has nothing to do with it to start.

Basically the filesystem, NTFS in Windows case, marks the area where the file was stored as being available once you delete and remove the file from the recycle bin. It physically is still saved on the hard drive, only it's "impossible" to read through Windows.

As such, recovery software is able to inspect the 1s and 0s on the hard drive itself, bypassing the file system, and can then restore the "deleted" data. However, if the area where the file was stored gets overwritten with new data (rather possible since after all Windows says its free), it makes it far more difficult to recover.

That's a quick overview, I'm sure there's far more technical aspects to it, but not like you need those :p