Note that on Windows XP, these options are located on the left menu bar rather than on the top. Alternatively, if you wish to restore every item currently in the Recycle Bin you can click on the Restore all items button at the top of the Recycle Bin window. Select the files you wish to restore and then either click the Restore the selected items button on the top bar of the Recycle Bin window, or right click and select Restore. The first method, is to use the restore function built into the Recycle Bin. If you wish to retrieve a file from the Recycle Bin you may do so in two different ways. This maximum size can be customized in the Recycle Bin's properties, which is covered later in this tutorial. Once that space is filled, the oldest files will automatically be deleted to make room for new files as they are moved to the Recycle Bin. Also, files deleted from within the Windows command prompt are not sent to the Recycle Bin and are instead deleted immediately.Īdditionally, the Recycle Bin has a maximum amount of data that it will hold. Files deleted from removable media, such as memory cards, USB/jump/flash drives, external hard drives connected via USB, and floppy disks, are not sent to the Recyle Bin, but are instead permanently deleted. First, only files deleted from fixed disks are sent to the Recycle Bin. This occurs in three different situations.
It is important to note that there are some times when files are not placed in the Recycle Bin when you delete them. Thankfully, when you use the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop, all of the deleted files from each drive will be shown as one list so you do not need to keep track of which drive they were deleted from. For each partition on your computer that is used by Windows, a Recycle Bin folder will be created that is used solely to store files that were deleted from that partition.
Recycle bin windows 10 windows 7#
For example, on Windows XP the Recycle Bin is found at :\RECYCLER, while on Windows Vista and Windows 7 it is located at :\$RECYCLE.BIN\Recycle Bin. The folder name of the Recycle Bin, though, is different depending on the version of Windows that you are running. You can also access the Recycle Bin using Windows Explorer by navigating directly to the folder associated with the Recycle Bin. The most straightforward way of accessing the Recycle bin is to click on the Recycle Bin icon on your desktop, which looks like the following image. The Recycle Bin can be accessed in a couple of different ways. Additionally, this tutorial will cover some special settings that the Recycle Bin has.
Recycle bin windows 10 how to#
The purpose of this guide is to explain how to use the Recycle Bin to review, restore, and permanently erase your files. As a computer user, use of the Recycle Bin system is an extremely common task that is important to know about in order to effectively manage files. Sometimes the Recycle Bin is referred to as the trash, trashcan, or garbage. First implemented in Windows 95, the Recycle Bin is a special directory where deleted files are stored in the event that you need to recover them. Instead, Windows moves the file to a special location called the Recycle Bin. When you delete a file in Windows it is usually not permanently deleted.