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Kai Chandler delves into restoring deleted files - Part One
If you want to delete a file from Windows Explorer without sending it to the Recycle Bin just select the file, hold down the shift key and press Delete.
When you use Windows Explorer to delete a file, it's not actually deleted, but is moved to a hidden folder called the recycle bin. This is really helpful because if you need the file back later, you can restore it from the Recycle bin.
Of course the files aren't kept forever, or your hard disk would soon fill up.
They are kept until one of two things happens. First - you choose to recover space on your hard disk by emptying the Recycle Bin. Second - as only a certain amount of space is kept for use by the Recycle Bin, any newly deleted files that would push it past that limit will bump off the oldest files. This is called First In, First Out or FIFO.
Please note that this Guide describes the Recycle Bin action in Windows XP. It may be slightly different in other versions of Windows but the principles remain the same.
How to see what's in the Recycle Bin
The Recycle Bin is accessed via an icon on the desktop
To see what's in the Recycle Bin, you should double click the icon to open an Explorer view of the contents. All the files are listed together with the names of the folders from which they were originally deleted.
How to recover deleted files from the Recycle Bin
To restore one or more deleted files back to its original location, select the file(s) in the usual way so the file(s) to be recovered is highlighted.
Next, select 'Restore this item'
The deleted file(s) will now disappear from the Recycle Bin and reappear in its original folder with the contents, date and time etc. unscathed by the experience.
How to empty the Recycle Bin
Periodically you may wish to free some disk space by emptying the Recycle Bin. Caution - if you empty the Recycle Bin it may no longer be possible to restore 'recycled' files!
To empty the Recycle Bin, double click the Recycle Bin icon and select the option to 'Empty the Recycle Bin.'
The disk space will now be freed.
How to change the settings of the Recycle Bin
To change the settings of the Recycle Bin you right click the Recycle Bin icon and select Properties.
You'll now see the Recycle Bin Properties windows.
Here you can set whether or not to use the Recycle Bin. It's difficult to think of a reason why you might not want to.
You can also set whether to treat all drives the same or whether to set individual Recycle Bin characteristics.
Much more useful is the ability to set the size of the Recycle Bin as a proportion of your hard disk size. If you are short of space then set a small proportion, say 1%. If you have loads of spare space then 10% would be idea.
In the next part, we'll look at recovering files even after they've been removed from the Recycle Bin.
