the Basket in Windows 10 is used to store deleted files. It works as a safety net because it protects files from immediate deletion of the hard drive. Typically, each time a file is deleted from the system, Windows puts it in the Recycle Bin for a defined period of time, so if you need to recover files, you can use this feature and restore one or more files depending on needs. But the Recycle Bin will not keep all of your deleted files forever!
Whenever you delete a file in Windows, it goes straight to the trash. These deleted files remain in the trash until it reaches its pre-configured maximum size limit (or until the user empties the trash). When the Recycle Bin reaches its maximum limit, it automatically deletes the oldest files from the Recycle Bin to free up space for new files.
Most users never change the default trash settings and let it do its job. But today, we’ll walk you through the steps to change the trash storage size in Windows 10.
Change the size of trash storage in Windows 10
You can adjust the default trash settings to change the maximum storage size and increase the number of files kept in the trash so that you can restore them if necessary. Here are the steps to change the trash storage size in Windows 10:
- Locate the “Recycle Bin” on your desktop and right-click the icon.
- From the drop-down menu, select “Properties”.
- Select “trash location” from the available options
- Choose the option you want to configure.
- Go to “Settings for the selected location”.
- Check the “Custom size” option.
- Now go to the field “Maximum size (MB)”.
- Specify the maximum amount of hard drive space that your trash can use to store your deletions.
- Click “Apply” and “OK” to save your changes.
You can set the maximum size in MB (1024 MB = 1 GB) for the desired storage.
Completed! Your trash can now store more (or less) files, depending on what you have specified.
Note that the recycle bin size calculations are based on the user’s disk quota, not the disk size. In Windows 10/8/7 / Vista, the default size is 10% of the first 40 GB of quota and 5% of any quota greater than 40 GB.
It is important to note that if you have multiple hard drives, partitions or an external hard drive connected to your PC, each location will have its own recycle bin and settings. But even if each drive has its own Recycle Bin folder, the contents of all folders are combined and displayed in the normal Recycle Bin view. So you will see all your deleted files in the trash no matter where they come from.
Additionally, removable drives, such as USB flash drives and memory cards, do not have a recycle bin. Files once deleted from removable drives are permanently deleted.
Although we have focused this guide on Windows 10, the same instructions can be used on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1.
Trash is a feature that most of us ignore, but with a little tweak, we can make it work the way we want; Read this blog for more tips and tricks on the Recycle Bin.
We hope this guide will help you a lot with accidental deletion of important files.
