Slightly different undelete files question

I have a linux/windows dual boot setup. Each OS is run from a different physical HDD.

I was in linux and deleted some files from my windows disc. I decided I wanted them back and booted into windows to use a file recovery tool that I have used for many years.

The program scans the disc and shows the folders where files have been deleted. In this case it did not highlight the folder from which the newly deleted files had been deleted but it did show others. The result is I was unable to recover the files.

I don't understand the intricacies of how computers delete files and wonder if it is impossible to recover the files because they were deleted from the windows disc while I was booted into my linux OS.

Can anyone help me understand what is happening in this scenario?

The files are not critical and I am not in a panic, I am just curious.

 

Hi SpikeyB,

In Linux, deleting a file usually means that the link to the file's location on disk was removed from the directory (folder in Windows) in which the file was located. So, recovery, at least in the Linux sense would normally mean recovering the file's location link in the directory as the file's contents remained on the disk after the so-called deletion operation occurred while in Linux.

Perhaps, a Linux file recovery tool would be able to rectify the situation, I am not sure it would, but it was not surprising that the Windows system was ignorant of the modification in not highlighting the newly deleted files with the Windows file recovery tool.

One thing to remember is that Windows partitions are different from Linux partitions, and while it makes more sense to delete Windows files while in a Windows booted up system than a Linux booted up system, there was no restriction to prevent the deletion operations you performed. I do not know if a Windows system would be able to do the corresponding deletion operation to a file on a Linux formatted partition in the reverse sense, but neither would it be something I would try to do.

-- Tom

 

Thanks for the explanation.

 

I usually find the deleted files under a folder named .Thrash or similar. This is if I did not secure delete a file on an ntfs drive and just put it in Mint's recycle bin.

 

Thanks for your input. It seems like my system works slightly differently. When I delete files from the windows drive nothing shows up in the linux trash.

 

Nor should it, and visa vera!

-- Tom