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syun_ukiya
07-12-2003, 04:11 AM
What's with this recycle bin space allocation. Meaning when its in 10% the available space for the files deleted is only 1.89GB what will happen if I delete files more than the limit?

Whenever I multiple delete files, I can't view all the files I deleted in the recycle bin. Is it because it exceeds the space percentage, what happens to those files? Automatically deleted without askin' me?

Big D
07-12-2003, 09:38 AM
If you try to delete something that's too big for the bin, it'll get erased completely - but there SHOULD be a prompt beforehand.

If something's been deleted - and even if it's bypassed the recycle bin - it should still be recoverable somehow, but I wouldn't have a clue how to do that.

crono_logical
07-12-2003, 11:53 AM
It's still recoverable after a complete delete because when you delete a file, all that happens is the area on the disk in which is was stored is marked as free - the data is still there, so if you get a decent undelete tool, it might be possible to restore the file pointers and get the file back as it were. Only problem is that once deleted, the area of the disk it used to be on becomes free reign for anything else to write it's own file to if it needs to, and if that happens, then you won't be able to recover the complete file again. Recovering parts of it would require advanced tools.

I prefer having the Recycle Bin disabled on my PC, so pressing delete trashes anything immediately for me (with confirmation of course) :p

syun_ukiya
07-12-2003, 02:08 PM
yes, I want my files perfectly deleted from my HD! I'm using mcafee shreadder and damn it takes time. In XP I didn't get a prompt! I've deleted 5 folders with 500mb file size each, then viewing the recycle bin I only saw 3 folders? What happend to the two? I'm guessing it has to do with percentages.

So if I turn of the recycle bin it deletes the file completely on my HD as in permanently?

crono_logical
07-12-2003, 02:46 PM
Well, 5 x 500 MB = 2.5 GB, but since you've limited your bin to 1.8 GB or so, they're not all gonna fit, only 3 of them.


If you want to disable the bin for a drive, right click the Recycle Bin, go to the page for the drive you want to change, and tick the Do not move files to the Recycle Bin. I'd recommend making sure the Display Confirmation dialog is checked though if you do that, just in case you hit delete in the keyboard by mistake for one reason or another.

Note that this isn't the same as shredding though. Shredding makes the undelete thing impossible by trashing the contents of where the file used to be, so even if you did try to recover it, you get garbage. That's also why it's so slow, because unlike a normal delete, which only removes the filename from the directory structure and marking those bits of the disk as free, the shedder writes over the entire contents of the file instead (multiple times depending on it's settings), which is going to be much more data changing on the disk.

syun_ukiya
07-13-2003, 01:28 AM
meaning if I want those files completely removed I'd use the shredding tool?

what about the the files that didn't appear in y bin? deleted already?

crono_logical
07-13-2003, 03:12 AM
The ones that didn't appear in the bin were deleted straight off, yes.

Shredding is overkill as far as deleting is concerned unless it's sensitive data you're deleting and don't want recovered and there's a chance someone might get hold of your disk and analyse it or something, so for almost everyone, normal delete is fine to remove stuff :p

Citizen Bleys
07-13-2003, 06:12 PM
In any event, the 10% default is horribly obsolete; It was fine in the days when a 1 GB drive was normal, but what happens when you're like me and have 300 GB of hard drive space (spread across multiple disks, to be sure, but still...) 10% of 300 GB = 30 GB of space that's totally inaccessible to me, because it's reserved for the recycle bin.

For most people in this day and age, 1% is plenty of space in the recycle bin. Or, like cl_out, turn it clean off. I never recover files anyways ;)

crono_logical
07-13-2003, 06:33 PM
It's not reserved as in it can't ever be used except for the recycle bin - if you need to store enough stuff on the disk such that the total free space is less than what the recycle bin has reserved, it'll do it anyway. That size is basically the maximum size the recycle bin can be on that drive, that's all. Of course, you still have to empty it manually if the disk becomes full and there's a few GB of data in the bin, it won't empty it for you if you attempt to put more stuff on the disk than there's space for with the bin in the way :p

Citizen Bleys
07-13-2003, 06:59 PM
Eh? I thought it WAS reserved...*checks Win2000 Pro book*

Endless
07-13-2003, 08:26 PM
Originally posted by crono_logical
The ones that didn't appear in the bin were deleted straight off, yes.

Shredding is overkill as far as deleting is concerned unless it's sensitive data you're deleting and don't want recovered and there's a chance someone might get hold of your disk and analyse it or something, so for almost everyone, normal delete is fine to remove stuff :p

And even then, shredding is useless if you face someone who <i>really</i> wants to recover the data *cough*FBI*cough*NSA*cough* The only good way to delete files is
1) Freeze the hard drive, then
2) shatter it with a sledgehammer, then
3) put the thing in an intense magnetic field.

Dropping it in melted iron would do the trick too, I guess.

Zypher
07-14-2003, 12:42 AM
Why doesn't shredding do the job? How can you get data after that?

crono_logical
07-14-2003, 12:50 AM
Well, put simply, each bit is stored on an area of the disk by magnetising the area in one direction or the other. Each time you write to it, you don't magnetise the entire area completely in the direction needed, just the majority of it (and a very large majority) so when read back, that direction of magnetism is overwhelming and you get back what you wrote. But there's still a tiny bit of the area storing the old data. Shredding attempts to destroy it by writing random data back and forth over the entire area per bit, but there's still a chance that it doesn't get wiped completely, and with sensitive enough tools and software, you can still recover the old data, although this is an extremely expensive process, hence why the person wanting to recover it must be very determined and have such resources, eg. FBI like Raf said.

Zypher
07-14-2003, 05:13 PM
Do you know why it's not magnetized all the way? Sorry if I'm being annoying, I'm just curious :p.

Peegee
07-15-2003, 06:01 PM
I'd also like to know what the 'recycle bin' actually does. Maybe I'm having reading comprehension problems, but I didn't understand what was discussed previously.