What Happens When You Empty the Trash on Your Computer?

Why empty the trash on your computer?

It’s not hard to find that there are many users who would empty the trash regularly. Actually, the trash would take up much storage, resulting in a lower speed to run the computer. And for most users, we recommend emptying the trash on your computer to have a better experience.

What happens when you empty the Trash on your computer?

What happens when you empty the trash on your computer? Where do deleted files go in Windows 10 and 11?  As we said above, the deletion is mainly acted by the users to free up more storage and make computers run faster. However, even though you empty the trash on your computer, your data is not completely erased from your computer. Although the file is no longer visible in its original location and your operating system no longer has it, a copy of it remains on your hard drive.

Does emptying trash permanently delete files?

When you empty the trash on your computer what happens? As we said above, the files are stored on a hard drive even though you emptied the trash. To permanently delete files without recovering even using data recovery software, you can wipe the hard drive completely.

To make the wipe more efficient and easier, AOMEI Backupper is highly recommended. It is a good choice when you need to wipe out the trash on the disk. In addition to wiping out the hard disk, you can also back up your PC to avoid data loss with it. Here are the steps for wiping out the hard drive. Follow me to take them in to practice.  

Step 1. Download and install AOMEI Backupper. Open it and then back up important files, then navigate to the Tools tab and choose Disk Wipe.

Step 2. Choose a Wiping Type to determine what to clean, select Wipe disk here and click Next to proceed. 

Step 3. Select the hard drive you want to clean. Click Next to continue. 

Step 4. Choose a Wiping Method with the safety level and speed you want, hit Start to wipe the hard drive. 

Notes:

• Currently, this feature does not support wiping dynamic disks.
• More passes and a slower wiping speed are associated with safer wiping methods.
• The wiping operation for your current system disk will be performed in reboot mode, and you will be unable to access the system after it is completed.

How do I recover files after emptying the Recycle Bin?

From the above illustration, we know what happens when you empty the trash on your computer. If you want to delete them permanently from the hard disk, then AOMEI Backupper can help you achieve the goal. 

However, what if you accidentally empty the trash and want to recover files after that? At this time, we recommend MyRecover to help you easily and efficiently retrieve the deleted data from the hard drive even after emptying Recycle Bin. It is workable for multiple Windows versions, including Windows 11, 10, 8, 7 and Windows Server, freeing you from updating Windows versions. And no matter what kind of data type, such as deleted photos, documents, etc., AOMEI Data could help you get them back. Now follow me to know the operation.

Step 1. Install and run MyRecover on the computer. Then select the partition/disk that includes your deleted Word files. Hover the mouse over the drive and click Scan to scan.

Step 2. Quick Scan and Deep Scan can search all the deleted Word files and other lost files on your selected partition/disk.

Step 3. Check your scanning results and click "Recover x files". And save your recovered Word files in a new position.

Conclusion

What happens when you empty the trash on your computer? Normally, trash is deposited in the Recycle Bin and then disappears after 30 days. Actually, they are not completely erased even if you empty the trash. If you want to permanently delete them, you can use AOMEI Backupper to assist you. If you need to recover files after emptying the trash, you can also use MyRecover.