mass storage fig2 illustrates a file structure in a system using a zombie file space a file structure 200 includes a live file space 210 an inode file 220 a live file link 230 a file 240 a zombie file space 250 and a zombie file link 260 the live file space 210 contains the root block and all associated blocks of data for live files i e files that may be accessed by users the inode file 220 is associated with the file to be deleted and contains information about the file the live file link 230 links a file to the live file space 210 the file 240 includes a plurality of file blocks 241 and a plurality of block links 242 the file blocks 241 are connected by the plurality of block links 242 the file 240 is illustrative of a file to be deleted the structure of the file as defined above is a hierarchical tree like structure however there is no requirement in any embodiment of the invention that the invention be applied only to file structures of this type the use of a hierarchical tree like structure filing system is intended to be illustrative only and not limiting the zombie file space 250 contains the root block and all associated blocks of data for zombie files i e files that are in the process of being deleted the zombie file link 260 links a file to be deleted to the zombie file space 250 a file that has been linked to the zombie file space 250 is referred to as a u201c zombie file u201d while it is so linked a method 300 includes a set of flow points.