Looking through the contents of your hard drive, many users may encounter a folder called “Recycle.bin”. At the same time, some may even take this folder as a virus and try to delete it, but rather quickly this folder will reappear in its usual place. In this article I will tell   What is this folder Recycle.bin , I will describe its purpose and the history of the appearance on users' computers.

What is Recycle.bin

Recycle.bin is the directory where folders and files that you previously deleted are temporarily stored. Usually, the latter are not deleted immediately after the corresponding user actions, but are moved to the Recycle.bin folder in question, and from there the user can delete these files irretrievably (theoretically) or, on the contrary, having thought again, return these files to the place where they were before deletion .

In the Russian version of Windows OS, this Recycle.bin directory has a corresponding icon on the desktop (usually from the top left) called "Recycle Bin". After you double-click on this icon with the left mouse button, you will get inside the Recycle.bin folder, where you can view all of its contents as files that you previously deleted.

It is known that this Recycle.bin folder has a variable name in different versions of Windows OS. In Win XP, it was usually called Recycler, in later versions of Windows, the name Recycled or $ Recycle.Bin is often found (from English. Recycle - a repeated cycle, and bin - a basket, a trash can).

The folder in question can be located on each logical drive of your computer, while double-clicking on the “Trash” icon you will see the contents of all Recycle.bin folders available on your PC. At the same time, this folder displays the deleted contents of various accounts of your PC, so simply removing all of its contents from one account may fail.

After we have decided on what Recycle.bin means and what this folder is, let's turn to the history of the appearance of Recycle.bin on our PCs.

Recycle.Bin history

A small icon indicating a waste container was developed by Apple back in 1982 for the Apple Lisa computer. It was named “wastebasket” (trash can) and Apple’s copyright protection, which forced competing companies to look for a different name for icons with similar functionality (in particular, the names “Recycle Bin”, “Shredder”, “Smart Eraser” other).

For the first time, Microsoft has implemented the concept of a garbage can in its MS-DOS 6 called "Delete Sentry" (in translation, something like "Watch Deletion"). When the file was deleted, it got into the Sentry directory, which was located at the very beginning of the disk. In Windows 95, this directory was renamed to Recycle Bin; however, unlike the functionality of modern baskets, files deleted with their folder were not displayed as the contents of a remote folder, but were randomly mixed with remote files from other sources. But the files deleted with the folder are now located inside the remote folder when viewing the recycle bin, and this allows us to understand in more detail what Recycle.bin is and how it functions.

How does Recycle.Bin work

In an effort to understand how Recycle.Bin works, it must first be noted that since this folder is important systemically, it is usually hidden from the eyes of users. To find it, you need to enable the display of hidden and system files in the settings of your file manager or explorer.

At the same time, deleting it is absolutely meaningless, since the functionality of this folder is required by the system. After it is deleted, the folder will automatically be created again.

The essence of the work of Recycle.Bin was already mentioned a little higher. Usually, the files you delete are placed in this folder, and are there until the user decides to empty the basket (right-click on the "Trash" icon and select "Empty trash"), or until the trash is full, and new deleted files will begin to "wipe out" the old ones (the latter will be automatically deleted).

You can set the basket settings by clicking on its icon with the right mouse button and selecting “Properties”. There you can set the parameters for the maximum basket size, the need to request confirmation to delete files, and the ability to immediately delete files without placing them in the basket.

If you want to restore the files currently in the Recycle Bin, just go inside (double click on this icon), find the selected files, right-click on them and click on "Restore". You can also restore all objects by clicking on the corresponding button at the top of this window.

Conclusion

When considering the question “what is this Recycle.bin folder?”, One should first of all focus on the fact that this directory has an important system value, allowing the user to slightly mitigate the influence of the “human factor” and, if desired, restore accidentally deleted files. At the same time, you should not forget to clean the basket regularly, without letting it get too clogged up - this will help to maintain the stability and reliability of your operating system in the future.