Overwriting/Replacing Hardrive Data? what happens to the Replaced data?

Danny_G

I have {Folder 2} on an external hardrive from which I copied from an internal Hardrive 4 months ago From an internal hardrive. {as a backup}



I want to Copy and Paste this Folder 2, from the internal to the external, and it will ask me 'do you want to overwright the hardrive' ?

Now the internal hardrive has more files on {as i have done more work on this stuff}

I will choose yes, but what actually happens to the old replaced files?

Nothing disappears on a hardrive, does it?

Do these files get stored on a minor portion of the hardrive? or when old files get replaced by their new version, they replace them?

marms

Any files with the same filename will be replaced, if you have system restore active on the drive or have backed it up with windows backup you'll be able to restore a previous version, otherwise it'll be gone for good.

Naf

almost for good... but gone enough that its not a simple or quick matter to retrieve, and no guarantees.

So you're just wanting to use the external drive as a backup for what's on the internal? The internal has all the current versions and the external just has old copies?

googler

You're copying a folder that's already on the destination drive, and the OS is prompting you "Do you wnat to replace this folder with the revised version" ?

If the contents of the folder have changed, then I would imagine the OS merely leaves the unchanged portions where they are on the disk, allocates new space for new portions of data (whether changes to files or additional files), and releases space used by any files that have been removed from your folder. You end up with file fragments scattered over the disk but that's what Defrag is for....

You could probably recover the released space with a utility like Recuva.

I don't think it places the second copy in a unique area of the HDD and deletes the first copy....

But why are you asking? Do you want to keep multiple copies of the same folder as incremental backups, so that you have a snapshot of the folder each time you copy it? If so, then set up a folder structure on the destination drive (maybe dated folders) and copy separate copies of the folder you're interested in into different target folders. This will eat up your HDD space, though