0
I'm using a CygWin session to
- find a large number of directories at a certain level in the file system tree
- in a loop, compress each directory into 1 archive, then delete the directory
This started yesterday and ran for some time. But now the disc turns out to be full! That is not possible because the compressed archives are smaller than the directories.
It turns out that Cygwin has created a directory /cygdrive/z/$Recycle.Bin where all deleted files are still stored.
In the CygWin shell (opened with Run as Administrator) it is not possible to just delete this directory: all the /.cyg0000000000* files in there are write-protected at some root level.
It seems this issue has been raised before, but never solved.
Is it possible to empty this bin (with a CygWin tool? -- Windows Explorer does not give the 'empty' option)
And is it possible to let CygWin's rm command behave properly without Recycle Bins?
This post recommends to MSYS's rm.exe (in CygWin) for safe & definitive deletion.
alle_meije
Posted 2014-09-16T08:26:41.230
Reputation: 233
you are sure there is not a standard windows recycle bin on the z drive in windows explorer? – rob – 2014-09-16T09:39:14.467
Well I formatted my external drive (Z:) as ext3 and never deleted anything in explorer (only in CygWin). Now that I am accessing it with Explorer, there is no 'empty' option like the normal Recycle bin has? If it is a 'normal' Recycle Bin, could I get rid of it/empty it in another way? – alle_meije – 2014-09-16T09:55:50.133
If I right click the recycle bin in explorer and the choose Properties I can see one entry per drive and set each drive to always delete, apart from that I am out of ideas. – rob – 2014-09-16T10:50:09.870
I see that option for my other drives but not for Z: -- maybe because it's ext3? This is what has me puzzled that there's a Recycle Bin to begin with. – alle_meije – 2014-09-16T11:51:20.653