$recycle.bin ????

[kaiser1993]

I recently install a program called WinDirStat to try and find out where a large chunk of my computer memory has gone, ran the program and discovered this. (in the attachment).
This mysterious $recycle.bin folder that takes up 42.9gig, which strangely contains files from RTW and M2TW dating from 2009. What is it and why has done it, and is safe to delete these files?

[irishron]

Run disc cleanup and check all the boxes in the options page. Find out how much crap it finds scattered since you started using the computer. Then just let it delete them.

[kaiser1993]

I ran it a bit ago and it hasn't removed them.

[Blackshroud]

in control panel add max sixe for recycle bin. Also try run CCleaner.

[kaiser1993]

CCleaner doesn't find anything, and I cannot see how limiting the recycle bin size will help.

[GrnEyedDvl]

Do not read too much into this. That space is not truly "used".

When you delete a file in Windows, its moved to the Recycle Bin. When you delete it from the Recycle Bin, its not really deleted, not in the way that you think it is. What happens is that the path to the file is deleted by changing the first character of the file name and a couple of properties are changed in the File Allocation Table, and that space is no longer reserved for that file. Since that space is no longer reserved, it can and often will be written over, which does make the file unreccoverable.

This is how file recovery tools work, they scan the drive for file names specific file attributes and file names, and change them back if the file has not been over written.