Windows 10: Oddly named large file in recycle bin, safe to delete?

Hello. I was recently trying to to free up some space on my computer using a program, WizTree, to find the largest files on the computer. I noticed a file (path is below), that was taking up a significant amount of space. Does this file serve a particular purpose, or is it safe to delete? Thank you for any possible help.

File path:
C:\$RECYCLE.BIN\S-1-5-21-902421406-1498751020-2984849007-1007\.���002a0000000557400b5a8b81d53b1b45

(On my screen, the question marks are squares)

:)

 

How do I restore files from the recycle bin of a system image? (windows 7 backup)

that's what happens to files in the recycle bin

they get renamed when placed into the recycle bin

otherwise it would be impossible to delete any file or folder with the same name of one already in the recycle bin

when accessing an online recycle bin through the recycle bin folder in explorer you don't see the actual folder

but a pseudo folder and a background process that reads the database file of the changed names to display the original file names

when you access an offline recycle bin by manually navigating the folders,

none of the original file / folder names will be seen

you need to find that database file in the offline recycle bin

open it and search for the original file name to find the recycle bin name corresponding to the original file name

 

Deleted item not appearing in Recycle Bin

Hi Terri, if you deleted a video file that was too large for the Recycle Bin and confirmed the deletion, then sorry, there will be no way to retrieve that file, since it would have bypassed the Recycle Bin . . .

 

Look at Recycle Bin proper, not the folder structure

If the original location was a TEMP folder - go ahead and empty RecycleBin

It's probably part of an install pkg, hard to tell with just a numerical file name.

 

The odd part is that the file is not showing in the actual recycle bin. When I empty the recycle bin, the file stays. That is what made me think it may have been an important file.

 

Ok, good information ...

The easiest thing to do is to delete the entire $Recycle.Bin folder.
Use Shift+delete to bypass sending it to the recycle bin

It gets recreated automatically (at boot, or the next time you delete an object)

My guess is that the file overran the Recycle.bin size and it's stuck in limbo.

 

Ok, tried, but it says that the file is open in another program. I also tried restarting Windows Explorer from Task Manager, then deleting the folder, but to no avail.

 

Hi,

Try redoing the same operation when rebooted in safe mode.


Cheers, *Wink

 

If what fdegrove suggested does not get you there, then boot into recovery
Command Prompt at Boot - Open in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums

Your drive letter might have changed
in the command prompt window enter

diskpart
lis vol
exit
That will tell you the drive letters

cd to the driveLetter that has the errant file in $Recyle.bin

attrib -s -h $Recycle.bin

rmdir /s /q $Recycle.bin

Restart your machine in normal mode

 

Hi,

If you don't mind I think a typo slipped in. Happens to me all the time. *Wink

list vol

Best, *Wink

 

I don't mind at all - glad you caught what very well could have been a typo. I do make them all the time *Wink

Just for reference though, most diskpart commands and objects can be abbreviated to the 1st 3 characters
det(ail) dis(k), lis(t) par(tition), cre(ate) vol(ume) ...

Commands that are not unique to 3 characters, such as att(ributes) and att(ach), must use more characters.

Bill
.

 

Hi,

Thanks for sharing this. I obviously had no idea some of these commands could be abbreviated. *Redface
Should have: *Zip

Cheers, *Wink