Recyle Bin issue with Windows 7

[doulapam]

Fairly recently (within the last 6 months) I realized that my recycle bin is emptying itself immediately after I send something there. I don't want it to do that. I like manually emptying it every 6 months or so. I can't find anything that sets the length of time before it empties or why it would be doing so automatically. Help!

 

[Dogsnake]

If you look at the Recycle Bin properties (right click the icon and select properties) you will see an option to "Don't move files to.....". If it is selected then the deleted file will not go to the Bin but be deleted right away. If this option is selected un-select it and select the option above that sets the custom size of the RB. Hope this is whats up.

 

[Saga Lout]

Right click the Recycle Bin icon on the Desktop and go to properties. Choose the settings you want to alter. For your purposes, you may need to increase the space it takes up if you only want to clear it out after six months.

 

[doulapam]

If you look at the Recycle Bin properties (right click the icon and select properties) you will see an option to "Don't move files to.....". If it is selected then the deleted file will not go to the Bin but be deleted right away. If this option is selected un-select it and select the option above that sets the custom size of the RB. Hope this is whats up.

My settings were already correct. But, I don't know what I should have for custom size. It reads "24968 MB". If I should change that, to what should I change it?

 

[Dogsnake]

Mine is about twice that. Try increasing the size. I would experiment however by perhaps creating a document and then send to the RB. See if it goes there? The RB in itself does not delete things. It is a sort of custom file that acts as a holding location until you delete it at a later date. Like a garbage can that you periodically have to empty to make room for more trash. So the idea that you are somehow auto deleting is questionable. If it is saturated with items newly added items may self delete as there is no room in the holding location. So I would ask you is it that your RB is always empty or are you not finding recently deleted items but you can find older ones there?

 

[doulapam]

Well, it's been 6 weeks and at first I thought increasing the size had fixed the problem. I just sent 3 documents to the bin and after a week or so, they were gone. I've gone through everything I can think of and nothing seemed to work. Anyone have a trick up his/her sleeve?

 

[Saga Lout]

A long shot but you could try opening the system up to display hidden and system files and folders then click on Recycle Bin in the root of C: and see if the target it true. You may find your files are in there and the Desktop icon points somewhere else.

 

[doulapam]

A long shot but you could try opening the system up to display hidden and system files and folders then click on Recycle Bin in the root of C: and see if the target it true. You may find your files are in there and the Desktop icon points somewhere else.

 

[doulapam]

Thanks for the help. I'm not knowledgeable enough to do what "Saga Lout" suggested so I just made a folder labeled "Pam's Recycle Bin and put files in there instead. Thanks everyone for all your help!

 

[Saga Lout]

That's one way round it but if you stlil want to recover some flies, when you're in Windows Explorer (My Computer) and click the Tools menu. Scroll to Folder Options then click the View tab. Scroll down to "Show hidden files and folders" and tick it then further down to Hide protected system files" and untick that. Click Apply and OK.

Then in C: - the basis of your hard disk - you wll see Recycler and your files are probably still there.