Question Can't delete files to Recycle bin even with proper options selected...?

[liberty610]

Hi everyone.

I am having an odd issue with one of my SSD drives not sending file to the recycle bin, even though in the recycle bin properties, I have it selected to do so.

I am running Windows 11 Pro 23H2 with build number22631.4169 on a Gigabyte X570 Xtreme motherboard. The board has 3 M.2 slots.

I have 5 internal SSD drives. 3 of them are M.2 drives (2 PCIE, 1 SATA), and the other 2 are 2.5 SATA drives. All the drives but one are properly sending deleted files to the Recycle bin. The one drive is a WD Blue 4tb SATA 2.5 drive. and no matter what size the file is or what type of file it is, it always gives me a prompt that says "Are you sure you want to permanently delete this file"?

All my drives, including this one that isn't Recycling files properly, are set up the same under the Recycle Bin properties the same way.

Under "Settings for selected location" I have "Custom Size" selected and "400000" typed in the Max Size box. All 4 other drives are behaving normally, but the WD BLue 4tb drive will NOT send any files what so ever to the Recylce bin, even though I have it set to do so.

I am the only user on this computer, I have Admin rights as the primary user, etc. I am stumped as to why this is doing this. Any ideas?

 

[Ralston18]

Go to Recycle Bin Properties.

Are all five drives listed?

Check the properties for each of the five drives.

I suspect that the drive in question is configured differently.

Likely "Display delete confirmation dialog" box is checked/selected.

 

[liberty610]

As I stated in my original post:

"All my drives, (including this one that isn't Recycling files properly) are set up the same under the Recycle Bin properties the same way."

All 5 drives have the same options and settings in the properties of the recycle bin. But this one drive is not acting that way. I even changed it's properties to what it is doing right now, then changed it back to reset any possible issues, and it's still not moving files to the bin. It permanently deletes them instead.

 

[BFG-9000]

Is the WD internal drive seen as a removable disk instead of fixed? The default behavior for removable disks is to not use the recycle bin.

A number of things can flip the Removable Media Bit (RMB) to 1 on an internal drive, with the most common being enabling a hotswap option in the motherboard BIOS for the port or controller it's attached to. Since you have other SATA drives, what happens when you move their cables around--does the drive without recycle bin move? If for example the WD was cloned from a USB drive at one point, its removable characteristic should remain no matter where it's plugged into.

If the Recycle Bin on the WD is just corrupt, you could try deleting the $RECYCLE.BIN folder on it (note it's a hidden protected operating system folder). You can usually get Windows to recreate it without a reboot by creating a dummy file of the same name in its place, which Windows should notice right away and fix.