Where is the basket?
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Hello,
When I delete mounted files, I don't know where they are going.
I can't find them in my Windows basket.
Where can I find them? Is there a basket for VeraCrypt?
Thank you in advance!
If you want files you delete from mounted VC volumes to go into the Recycle Bin, you need to deselect 'Mount volumes as removable media' in the GUI's Settings > Preferences. Otherwise they are deleted immediately, and not recoverable, except with special file recovery software.
Hello,
Thank you for your reply.
'Mount volumes as removable media' is already deselected.
What Recycle Bin are you talking about? That of Windows, or a specific trash for VeraCrypt?
Because I do not want my files mounted elsewhere in the Windows Recycle Bin. However, I would like them to have the deleted mounted files in an encrypted volume bin so that I can find my files if necessary.
Thank you!
If drives/volumes are not mounted as removable media, then files deleted from them normally go into the 'Windows Recycle Bin' (WRB). Note that files sent there are not viewable in the WRB once the drive/volume is dismounted.
The WRB icon is in fact a shortcut to the individual bins for each drive that is capable of retaining deleted files. Right click on the icon, left click on properties, and you'll get a list of each such drive, and you can choose to set the size, or to disable the function for the drive.
If you mount a drive/volume as removable, no entry for it will be listed. If you mount it as non-removable, an entry for it will appear. But you can disable the function via the WRB listing, and that will override VC's preferences; subsequent mounting as non-removable will not restore that function. You'd have to restore it via the WRB listing.
Thank you very much for your response which helps me a lot!
Are the files sent to the trash well encrypted and secure too?
Thank you in advance.
When you 'delete' a file, it doesn't go anywhere, it stays on the drive from which it was 'deleted'.
If you 'permanently' delete it ie don't send it to the drive's 'bin' (eg by pressing the 'Shift' key as you click to 'delete' it) all that happens is that the drive's master file table (MFT, which keeps a record of where every file is on the drive) is altered to remove any reference to the file. That means that where the file was can be overwritten by new files. (That's why, if you accidentally permanently delete a file, it's important not to write more data to the drive before you use file recovery software to try to get it back.)
If you send a file to the drive's 'bin', the MFT is altered so as not to show the file in directory listings, but it also marks that where the file is, is not to be overwritten by new files. That's why you can recover it from the 'bin'.
So, yes, files you 'delete' from a mounted VC volume stay on that volume, and are protected by the same encryption/security as non-deleted files on the drive, when dismounted/re-encrypted.
That files are not actually deleted even when 'permanently deleted' is why the paranoid use 'wipe free space' software on unencrypted drives, to directly wipe those files from the drive, and leave no trace of them!
Last edit: Adrian Kentleton 2020-04-11
Thank you very much for your very detailed and interesting answer, which will be very useful in the future!