Hi

It seems to be common knowledge now that deleting a file does not actually delete anything; all it does is remove the file name so it won’t be “seen” anymore.

That being the case why do I sometimes get the message “This file is too large for the Recycle Bin”?

All that is going into the “Bin” is the name of the file not the actual file so why should it be too big? There is plenty of room in the “Bin” as I can still delete dozens of files without any problem.

Any ideas?

D.D.

That being the case why do I sometimes get the message “This file is too large for the Recycle Bin”?

Because there is a max size of the recycle bin total contents. Default is 10%. Right click on the bin, select Properties and increase it if you wish.

All that is going into the “Bin” is the name of the file not the actual file so why should it be too big? There is plenty of room in the “Bin” as I can still delete dozens of files without any problem.

Sorry, but that is not true. If all it did was archive the file name the sectors that the file is spread across would be available to overwrite. The Recycle bin is a special folder that the entire file contents is moved to to guarantee safety in recovering. You can change the size from the default 10% of the partition size to something larger if is a problem. It also removes oldest deleted files if it is getting too big in order to make room for the new deletions. However, if the file size is larger then the recycle bin set size, it will warn you and just completely free up the space where that file resides (in other words a delete without going to recycle bin).

Microsoft how to resize

Restoring deleted files

(Edit: in the time it took me to write this, others posted answers too! What a great forum! )

Hey D,

Your recycle bin is set by default to hold maximum 10% of yor storage space.

ie: if you have a 40 GB hard drive, the R.B will hold 4 GB max.

Files that you delete do not remain in the same place as you indicate in your post, but go to the RECYCLE file (default is C:/Recycle).

As this folder hold the default 10% only, a file can be too large.

When a file is too large to recycle you should then be prompted to "permenantly delete this file".

Prob solved?

On a side line, you can change the default recycle allocation from above mentioned 10% to whatever you choose. This will free up more storage space for your files.

10% for most people is far too much

Right click on your recycle bin and adjust properties.

If you have mutiple hard drives, or even if your hard drive is partitioned, the recycle bin treats each seperately, and so 10% of each drive (10% of drive C, 10% of drive D, etc...)

You can adjust these, either all at the same time, or independently of eachother.

Personally, I set each drive at 2 percent.

So I have for example

drive C: 9.76GB total, 0.97GB reserved for recycle --- I changed it to 2% = 200 MB

drive D: 23.4 GB total, 2.34 GB reserved for recycle --- ridiculous, so now it stands at 2% =479MB

And Drive E (pictured below) 149GB, a stupid 3.99 GB reserved for recycle... Now there's a waste of perfectly good space - This one i'm actually now going to reduce from 2% to 1%

So (post screenshot which was 2% now I have it at 1% (still a very stupidly large) 1.49 GB

but regardless it means I've liberated in total an additional 2GB of storage space.

So with files too large for your recycle bin, as I said, you should get prompted to delete permanently, or else, change the capacity of your recycle bin (large/smaller % of total capacity.

Edited November 27, 200619 yr by kayo

Hi

Is this a great forum or what, instant replies, wonderful.

I don’t have any problem with overfilling my Bin as I clear it out on a regular basis, it’s just a thought that came to me and wondered what the answer was.

So thanks ‘KAYO” and “TYWAIS” for explaining that the deleted files are actually moved to the Recycle Bin - that would explain it.

I assumed, wrongly, the files stayed where they were and only the name was put in the Bin.

Thanks

D.D.

Welcome to the forum Daffy.

(By the way, my avatar is normally Bugs Bunny or Roger Rabbit, and we have toon wars in the Pub forum... this one is just The Wabbit's adopted dog)

We're a bit wierd here.

Well, I am anyway

All that is going into the “Bin” is the name of the file not the actual file so why should it be too big? There is plenty of room in the “Bin” as I can still delete dozens of files without any problem.

Sorry, but that is not true. If all it did was archive the file name the sectors that the file is spread across would be available to overwrite. The Recycle bin is a special folder that the entire file contents is moved to to guarantee safety in recovering. You can change the size from the default 10% of the partition size to something larger if is a problem. It also removes oldest deleted files if it is getting too big in order to make room for the new deletions. However, if the file size is larger then the recycle bin set size, it will warn you and just completely free up the space where that file resides (in other words a delete without going to recycle bin).

Microsoft how to resize

Restoring deleted files

You are both right, in a sense. The sectors containing the file contents are left where they are, the file information (name and pointer to list of sectors) is copied to the recycle bin.

Either way the file is still on the disk and snooping around it can still be viewed.

For any sensitive data you need a programme like BCWipe or Eraser

both of which which overwrite the data 7 times, or more, to prevent recovery.

Edited December 11, 200619 yr by astral

If you want to delete something and for it not to go to the recycle bin you can hold down the shift key and then delete.

wahey, i never knew that. Good one!