CIS 170F: Windows 7 Administration

Week 5

Managing File Systems
Recovering Files and Folders
Recovering with Recycle Bin

  • The Recycle Bin provides protection against accidental erasure of files. In most cases, when you delete one or more files or folders, the deleted items go to the Recycle Bin. If you change your mind, you can go to the bin and recover the thrown-out items. Eventually, when the bin fills up, Windows begins emptying it, permanently deleting the files that have been there the longest.
  • The following kinds of deletions do not go to the Recycle Bin:
    • Files stored on removable disks
    • Files stored on network drives, even when that volume is on a computer that has its own Recycle Bin
    • Files deleted from a command prompt
    • Files deleted from compressed (zipped) folders
  • You can bypass the Recycle Bin yourself, permanently deleting an item, by holding down the Shift key while you press the Delete key. You might want to do this if you need to get rid of some very large files and you're sure you'll never want those files back. Skipping the Recycle Bin in this case will reclaim some disk space.