This is a general overview of the variables that can make your data more or less likely to be recoverable with Disk Drill. This list is by no means definitive.
Sometimes, even in the best situation, the data is lost. And sometimes, even under the worst conditions, the data can be found. There are cases when you can easily find smaller files from 4 years ago, and at the same time can’t find a 100MB document you deleted yesterday. This list is just for the purpose of giving you a general idea. Remember, luck is the necessary final ingredient.
The basics are this: Even after a file is deleted or dragged to the Trash, it usually still exists on the disk for some time until it is overwritten by new data. The computer marks the space that your deleted file took up as “empty” and thus available for new data to be saved there. But it often takes a long time before that space is actually filled. This is where Disk Drill comes in — it finds those files still lurking in the “empty” spaces. (Read Can You Guarantee That I Can Recover a Specific File? for a more detailed explanation of how file recovery works).
There are, of course, exceptions. Anytime you make a choice that “zeros out” a part of a disk after something is deleted, it becomes unrecoverable. The system literally writes zeros over the space where your data was, so the data is truly gone. See examples of this below in the “no recovery” section. In addition, if your disk is failing or has bad sectors, this also could cause permanent data loss, as Disk Drill may not be able to read those parts of the drive.
So, two rules of thumb for data recovery:
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