I’ve been making backups of some files. After I did this, I opened my Recycle Bin to delete the files from my hard drive and free up memory.
But when I opened the Recycle Bin, it was empty. The files I had sent there were already gone. I tested this a second time and the same thing happened. Apparently the Recycle Bin now works automatically and immediately deletes all files sent to it. (Which means the Recycle Bin essentially has no function.)
This wasn’t a problem in the current situation; I was going to delete those files anyway. But it has the potential for being a problem if I “delete” a file by mistake and it’s gone when I try to restore it.
Go to the Recycle Bin folder on your system. Right-click on the folder and then select the Properties option.
On the Recycle Bin Properties dialogue box, select the checkbox saying Don’t move files to the Recycle Bin. Remove files immediately when deleted and click on OK.
So did this setting get changed somehow? If so, you can change it back to the way you want it.
Did you delete huge batches, like entire folder trees with a lot of data? Those might be deleted directly, because they would break the size limit on your recycling bin, but you should have gotten a message about that when doing the delete, at least if using the straight Windows interface.
How are you deleting files? Pressing DEL? You might have a sticky or malfunctioning SHIFT key (SHIFT + DEL = instant delete). On a related note, check to see if you have Sticky Keys turned on. It’s easy to turn it on accidentally.
Another thing to check is whether or not you have Storage Sense turned on (Settings → System → Storage). It’s supposed to wait 30 days before deleting files but maybe something has gone wonky with it.
Also check your anti-virus vault (or whatever your anti-virus calls its storage place for quarantined files). Your anti-virus might be going wonky or you might have a virus that is infecting files when you access them, triggering the anti-virus to quarantine them.
You actually did delete the files, right? Just checking. Because, from your description, I’m imagining you copying a bunch of files to an external hard drive or to the cloud, then checking to see if those files showed up in the Recycle Bin when there’s no reason they should have since you neglected to actually delete them.
This was a possibility the first time. My hard drive memory was started to get full, which was what prompted me to make some backups and clear it. So maybe that initial bunch of files was too large to hold in the Recycle Bin (although these were files that were already on my hard drive). But when I tried the second set of files, the size was smaller and was well below the memory I had available (especially with all of those other files now deleted).
And as you said, when I’ve encountered this issue in the past, I got a pop-up notice telling me there wasn’t enough memory. That didn’t happen this time.
Yes. I highlighted the files, dragged and dropped them over to the external hard drive, and then deleted them all off the laptop while they were still highlighted, using the delete key.
As I wrote above, I used the delete key. I’m aware of the concept of sticky keys but I’ve never used them. How do I check to see if any are turned on?
I never had the storage setting set on anything like thirty days. Files used to sit there indefinitely until I chose to empty the Recycle Bin. How do I check this storage setting?
Finally, I have no idea how to check my anti-virus vault.
Were the files deleted from internal drives or portable ones? IIRC Windows default behavior lets files from external drives (USB hard disks and thumb drives) get deleted directly without putting them in the recycle bin.
Yes, I’ve encountered that. But it wasn’t the case here. These were files that were on my laptop that I had moved to an external backup drive. I was then deleting the laptop files.
Well not really because I just deleted them again.
But I deleted a few more files this morning and I just checked to see if they were appearing in the Recycle Bin. Not only were those files there but so were a few hundred of the files I had deleted previously, which were the “missing” ones.
No idea how that happened. Is there some way files can be delayed enroute to the Recycle Bin?
I did make one change. Last night while I was checking the settings, I clicked on the setting for a double notification before deletion. (I figured that with the problem I was experiencing, this would reduce the chance of me accidentally deleting a file.) That conceivably could explain why the files I deleted this morning didn’t disappear but I don’t see how it explains the reappearance of the missing files from a couple of days ago.
That’s really strange. Did you reboot between the deletion and non-appearance of the files and their reappearance in the recycle bin? Maybe it was a temporary glitch in the file system or rather the display of files in that session which got remedied by rebooting.