Empty recycle bin on E: drive

Question

I'm trying to free up some space on the E: drive of a particular machine. In WinDirStat, I see $RECYCLE.BIN there is taking up 10+ GB, so I'd like to empty it. Seems simple enough!

I can't seem to figure out how. In Windows Explorer, there's one "Recycle Bin", and it's on the Desktop, outside of any lettered drive, and the lettered drives don't show $RECYCLE.BIN in them. The one Recycle Bin I do see shows as empty -- no files, zero bytes.

(The only answer I could find so far is something to do with permissions, but I even tried opening an Explorer window as administrator, and I still see nothing there.)

Any ideas? Thanks!

Answer 1

Try: Right click on Recycle Bin, go to Properties. Configure each drive independently. On the E: drive, either disable or make the bin smaller. Windows automatically tries to allocate approximately 10% of EACH drive. If you manage the recycle bin automatically, all drives allocate 10%. If you manage them seperately, you can choose custom sizes.

Answer 2

Open the recycle bin on your desktop.

Change view to "details" and then sort by "original location".

Select those files on the "E:" drive (click the first, use the scroll bar and then hold Shift while you click on the last).

Press Delete.

Answer 3

This batch file works on Win7 x64:

@echo off
if [%1]==[] goto :Usage
if not exist "%1\$RECYCLE.BIN" goto :NotFound

:main
  pushd %1\$RECYCLE.BIN
  echo. Removing contents of %CD%
  for /r %%a in (*) do (
    echo.   %%a
    takeown /f "%%a"
    del /f "%%a"
    )
  popd
  goto :eof

:NotFound
  echo.
  echo. Error: Problem accessing %1\$RECYCLE.BIN.
  echo.
  goto :Usage

:Usage
  echo.
  echo. -=[%~nx0]=- Empty recycle bin for a single drive. Example:
  echo.
  echo. %~n0 E:
  echo.
  goto :eof

There will be errors for files not belonging to the active user profile if they have insuffcient permissions to take ownership (the files won't be removed). Run as administrator to get all users' files.

Answer 4

I had this exact same problem. In SpaceMonger it was showing the $recycle.bin folder taking up tons of space even though I had set the recycle bin settings for that drive to 'delete things right away'. This is how I ended up finally deleting it as it would not show up in Windows Explorer even with hidden files shown.

in CMD...

D:\>rd $recycle.bin /s/q

rd is the command, D is the current location of the cmd 'cursor' and of course $recycle.bin is the folder, /s tells it to also do all subdirectories, and /q tells it to just shut up and delete things without prompting you.

Strangely the first time I ran SpaceMonger after executing this command it still showed up, but in CMD when I tried to browse to the directory it said not found. Then finally SpaceMonger caught up with me.

Answer 5

In server 2012 or other modern Windows OSes - You'll want to click View, Options, Change folder and search options, click the view tab in the new window, and then uncheck the Hide protected operating system files.

You will then be able to see the $RECYCLE.BIN folder and delete files in it. For me, i just selected all the folders, right clicked and deleted all.

Answer 6

You should just be able to show hidden files (and also protected system files) on the E: and then just right-click on the $RECYCLE.BIN and empty like the regular Recycle Bin.

via link

Answer 7

In Windows Explorer make sure you can view hidden files/folders. Then Right click on $RECYCLE.BIN and click delete. If it tells you that certain files are system files, click yes to confirm delete.

The folder will remain in place but will now be empty.

Answer 8

Do a standard "Disk Cleanup" on that drive:

Right-click on the drive and click "Properties". Select "Disk Cleanup" on the bottom right of the pie graph.

The Disk Cleanup window that opens will list at least one item in a checkbox list that will be the Recycle Bin. Make sure it is checked and click OK.