You know when you read a book, it has index of all of its chapters etc. files on hard disk are stored in similar way. There is an index which maintains which file is where.
When you delete a file, it’s entry is removed from the index. The file still exist but it can’t be located from index (which is used by all programs to locate files).
The file which still exist can be over written by others with new respective entry in index.
pm_me_n_wecantalk t1_iy4l6n6 wrote
Reply to eli5 How is computer memory deleted? by unlikemike123
You know when you read a book, it has index of all of its chapters etc. files on hard disk are stored in similar way. There is an index which maintains which file is where.
When you delete a file, it’s entry is removed from the index. The file still exist but it can’t be located from index (which is used by all programs to locate files).
The file which still exist can be over written by others with new respective entry in index.