Windows usb stick recycle bin

Click here and get The Ask Leo! Become a Patron of Ask Leo! My belief is that it has to do with the assumption that removable drives are typically too small to hold them. The actual folder containing the Recycle Bin can have different names, depending on the file system used and the version of Windows you run. Always assume that deleting a file means the file will be deleted, permanently and forever. The good news about USB drives is that they are treated as just that: disk drives.

Oh, and back up often. Subscribe to Confident Computing! Less frustration and more confidence, solutions, answers, and tips in your inbox every week. Download right-click, Save-As Duration: — 2. Thanks Leo for your response. As always, backup, backup, backup.

A way to test this would be to try and find an ancient 4 gig hard disk and put it in a USB enclosure, to see if Windows gives it a Recycle Bin. A quick confirmation of this would be to insert another pen drive and see if the directory is instantly created!

The directory will be hiding a trojan if you are lucky to be able to see this hidden file and you most likely will have a autorun. In the Command Window type e: amd press enter on your keyboard.

It also work if the system is a FAT system by changing recycler to recycled. Part of it I blame it on myself because i keep pressing the delete button because the computer was not responding and part of it I blame it on the computer because if it was responding, I could easily know if my unwanted file is already deleted and will not keep pressing the delete button….

If you write anything to the drive before running Recuva the chances of overwriting the deleted file increase. If I have a recycle bin on my external hard drive how can I see it, or the containing of it? So what is strange for me is the fact that even if it appears to be a file located in a recycle bin that I cannot find I can still play the video files with no problem!

I also do not know where the files came from but I did have borrowed the hard drive to other people and that could explain it! My dilemma right now is how can I restore some of those files if I cannot locate that recycle bin folder and also how can I delete the rest of them?

I appreciate the fact that you found the time to answer my questions but I have to say that the answers were no good! However I would like to say that I found the answer I was looking for! I would not even try this file personally.. Your email address will not be published. Currently you have JavaScript disabled. In order to post comments, please make sure JavaScript and Cookies are enabled, and reload the page.

Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your browser. Email this page. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. I cannot find internet resources that explain this behaviour or what is causing it -- can someone explain or point me to appropriate resources? Was this reply helpful?

Yes No. Sorry this didn't help. Thanks for your feedback. It may well be that the drive came with a feature that bypasses normal function of Windows, but some background would be nice. There is software that may be able to recover deleted files from a USB memory stick, Undelete is one that works. There is software purporting to add recycle bin functionality to a USB stick, but the usual cautions about risks of more special SW from difficult-to-evaluate sources applies.

And beware there is on-stick SW that fakes Windows into believing the USB stick is an optical disc thus autorun is accepted. U3 may be one of legitimate intent, was on some drives by a good brand of sticks, but the ability has been widely mis-used to load Malware. Good article on Microsoft's web site, title includes "vendor swag" because free sticks could contain the routine.