I'm new to ipfs, so I've been running some tests. What I did is, I created a simple text file and added to ipfs, I deleted my local file and I used ipfs cat and was able to read the contents of the file. But my confusion comes when I run ipfs dht findprovs <hash> and the only ID I get is my ID, but since I deleted the file from my computer, where exactly is it being stored? Why am I not getting another peer ID?
It is in the repository of your local IPFS node. You can browse it by right clicking the IPFS status icon > click Advanced > click Open Repository Directory.
If the file is not pinned, it stays in the repository until the garbage collector does its job. If it is pinned, it will stay there forever.
You're not getting other peer IDs probably because no other peer has accessed your file.