Recycle Bin Tips
The Recycle Bin temporarily stores most deleted files in the Windows environment. Although it can be a good safety line if a file is mistakenly deleted, it is not fool proof. Not all deleted files are stored in the Recycle Bin, nor do they stay for long. Another important factor is that even if a file can be restored sometimes function cannot be restored due to registry and other configuration settings necessary to properly run the file. In some cases you may not wish to store deleted files, such as when you want to improve security in sensitive matters. This document discusses the Recycle Bin and the various available options.
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Empty the Recycle Bin. Deleted files that are stored in the Recycle Bin still take up disk space. If you need the disk space then empty the Recycle Bin.
Modify the Recycle Bin maximum space used by Recycle Bin. If you often run low on disk space then making your recycle bin smaller can provide some (usually temporary) relief and free up some disk space.
Restore deleted files. If you accidentally deleted a file you can go to the recycle bin and restore the file to its original location.
Deleted Files did not go to Recycle Bin. This section explains why some files you deleted may not appear in the recycle bin.
Disable the Recycle Bin. Disabling the recycle bin will affect all future file deletes by not storing any of them in the recycle bin. That will make it more difficult to recover from a mistake, and doesn't do much to improve either security or disk space. You can reverse the process, so it might be a reasonable interim solution to being out of disk space.
Enable the Recycle Bin. If you disabled to the recycle bin to prevent it from storing deleted files you can easily restore the function.
Bypass the Recycle Bin when deleting selected files. Bypass the recycle bin if you want to delete some files and not have them stored in the recycle bin. Bypassing will affect only that one operation.
The Recycle Bin contains files that you have "deleted." The good thing about the Recycle Bin is that it makes it easy to recover a file you deleted by mistake. The bad thing about the Recycle Bin is that people often forget to empty it. Emptying the Recycle Bin will make that space available to you.
Right click on the Recycle Bin icon.
Click on Empty Recycle Bin
Modify the Recycle Bin maximum space used by Recycle Bin
The default size of the Recycle Bin is 10% of your disk space. That means that you can end up with more than 200 MB of files in the Recycle Bin. Reducing the size of the Recycle Bin will make more disk space available. However, when the Recycle Bin fills up, it will permanently remove older and larger files without warning you. There is, therefore, some small risk in reducing the size of the Recycle Bin. The following instructions assume your Recycle Bin is still using default settings and is using one setting for all drives.
Right click on the Recycle Bin icon.
Select P roperties.
Click on the Global tab.
Put your mouse pointer on the sliding tab
above the text
Maximum size of Recycle Bin (percent of each drive).
Hold down the left mouse button and drag the slider to the left to reduce the percent of each drive reserved for the Recycle Bin. Reducing the percentage to 5% should leave you enough room to store some "deleted" files for possible recovery from accidental deletion.
To recover deleted files from the Recycle Bin:
Double-click on the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop
Select P roperties.
Double-click on the Recycle Bin on your desktop.
Select the files you want to recover from the pane in the right side of the window that appears.
To select more than one file, hold down the {Ctrl} key while clicking your mouse on the files you wish to select.
Click on the File menu and select Restore. The Recycle Bin should restore your deleted files to the directory from which they were deleted.
Deleted Files did not go to Recycle Bin.
Only files you delete from your local hard disk (e.g. C: drive) go to the Recycle Bin. Floppy disk drive and network drive files are immediately deleted and not recorded in the Recycle Bin for possible recovery. The Recycle Bin is a built in application within Windows, it tracks deletion only from within Windows applications. If you delete files from the DOS prompt, or use some older applications those deletions may not be reported to the Recycle Bin. If you want to be able to recover files from the Recycle Bin you should delete files only from Windows Explorer, My Computer, or a Windows NT or Windows 2000 complaint application.
If the deleted files missing from the Recycle Bin are critical
stop all further attempts to explore and recover the files. The fewer changes you make to the hard drive the better your chances that the files can be recovered. Open a
NorthStar ticket to make an appointment for service. Be sure to include your contact number. Describe the problem in detail, especially the steps you took to try to correct the problem. You will be contacted by the appropriate party. For more information on creating the NorthStar ticket, see Eureka! document
39068 — How to submit a computer or peripheral for repair.
Caution: If you disable the Recycle Bin, you will not be able to recover files you delete. If you only want to prevent a few files from being stored in the Recycle Bin a better solution is to bypass the Recycle Bin instead of disabling it.
Right click on the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop.
Select P roperties.
Click the box next to "Do not move files to the Recycle Bin." to check the box.
Click the Apply button.
Click OK to close the Recycle Bin properties window.
Now when you delete a file the space it occupied will be immediately available. If you make a mistake in deleting you will not be able to use Recycle Bin to restore the file, and you may not be able to recover it even with special tools. Note, however, that deleting a file does not automatically erase it from your hard drive. If you are attempting to immediately delete a file for security purposes you will need to overwrite that file space. For moderate security purposes running a defragmentation program is usually sufficient to overwrite the file space. For more information see the document 10031 — How to defragment your drive.
If you earlier disabled the Recycle Bin you can easily enable it so that deleted files are stored, temporarily, for easy recovery.
Right click on the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop.
Select P roperties.
Uncheck the box next to "Do not move files to the Recycle Bin." by clicking in it.
Click the Apply button.
Click OK to close the Recycle Bin properties window.
Now when you delete a file from your hard drive it will be stored temporarily in the Recycle Bin in case you made a mistake. Keep in mind that recycle bin only stores files deleted from your hard drive and deleted using windows applications.
Bypass the Recycle Bin when deleting selected files.
If you have a group of files that you want deleted immediately, without being stored in the Recycle Bin, you can bypass the recycle bin. Unlike disabling the recycle bin, the bypass affects only the files operated on at that time. Future deletions will still be stored in the Recycle Bin. Only files you delete from your local hard disk (typically drive C) go to the Recycle Bin. Floppy disk drive and network drive files sent to the Recycle Bin are immediately and permanently deleted.
To bypass the Recycle Bin:
Select the file(s) to be deleted.
Press and hold the {Shift}key, then press the {Delete} key.
Click the box next to "Do not move files to the Recycle Bin." to check the box.
Created by the PeopleSoft Knowledge Management Team.
Copyright © 2000
All rights reserved.
Created: db 03/24/2000
Revised: db 12/23/2003