Deleting a file from a network drive

Question

If I have a network drive setup which connects to a specific server. If I delete a file from that network drive, it does not go into my desktop recycle bin and it does not go into the recycle bin on the server's drive.

Where does the deleted file go?

Answer 1

I believe it disappears forever. This is normal behaviour for files on network shares.

Microsoft say

By design, files deleted by network clients never go into the Recycle Bin,

Webopedia say

When you delete files from shares on your network they really vanish. Unlike local files, they are permanently deleted instead of being sent to the recycle bin where you can recover them if needed. Obviously, this may become a huge problem if you accidentally delete an important document.
…
you can use third-party programs to undo that delete.

See also https://serverfault.com/q/10032/55524

Answer 2

The recycle bin is a desktop feature that only works for your local harddrive. When you delete a file from a network drive, floppy or any other external storage the file will be "really" deleted.

Answer 3

Files over certian server systems and files on things like "Mass storage" flash drives the system does not use the recycle bin.

It did not actually go anywhere :-) until the space that it used up on the disk is overwritten. It was removed from the "table of contents" of the disk, marked for "re-use" when another file comes in and uses the spot that data was in, then it will be over-written.

If your looking for a file you deleted, then do not add more writes to the disk, and attempt a recovery/undelete of the file. If your looking for a way to have it go into a recycle bin, then look for some 3rd party software, or Make Your Own :-) DIY , move files to a folder called TRASH instead of deleting, that is what works for me. That method also works good on portable devices without recycling capability, moves to the same disk or media are quick also , so it is no sweat for any of them to do that.