Fixing a Corrupted Recycle Bin

Normally, when you delete a file or folder, it goes automatically to the recycle bin. You can review the contents of your Recycle Bin before deleting the files or folders permanently from it. In the case in which you have accidentally deleted a file, you can go to recycle bin and undelete it to recover the file again.

Sometimes, when you perform the delete operation on your files or folders, you may receive an error message saying that your "Recycle Bin has been corrupted". Windows will ask you if you want to empty your Recycle Bin for that particular drive. If the Recycle Bin is not showing the files that have already been deleted by you or shows an incorrect icon, then you need to reset it.

An easy way to reset such a problem is by doing the following:

Every drive has a protected and hidden folder called "$Recycle.bin. Here the Recycle Bin stores all the files and folders that have been deleted by you or any other users on the PC. Reset that folder and Windows will automatically create a fresh "$Recycle.bin folder for your PC. However, keep in mind that the files that you will delete while resetting will not be recovered again as they will get permanently deleted from your PC.

To fix a corrupted Recycle Bin in Windows XP, all you have to do is to get rid of the hidden recycle folder by using rd/s c:\recylcer command in the Windows Command prompt. By doing this, all the contents of the Recycle Bin will be deleted and thus the error will be fixed. Sometimes by doing this your Recycle Bin will show its icon in filled state. To fix this, all you have to do is to just disable and re–enable the Recycle Bin. To do this, you have to right click on the Recycle Bin icon –> properties -> Do not move files to Recycle Bin –> click apply and then deselect the check box to enable Recycle Bin again. At that point, your Recycle Bin should be normal again.

Whenever you try to attempt to fix the corrupted Recycle Bin, always keep in mind that all the files and folders in the Recycle Bin are going to be permanently deleted. Another way to fix this problem is to search for cmd.exe at the command prompt and click on it. Then press "Run as Administrator". Then enter the command: "rd/s/q C:\$ Recycle.bin". By doing this the Recycle Bin gets cleared. You can use this method in Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

So, windows can be a mystery sometimes. The Recycle Bin has a lot of dependencies in a PC just like your Internet Explorer. There are many different causes for the Recycle Bin to get corrupted like a registry error or a dependency error. There are different ways to repair them too. Some ways may not be able to fix your problem as it all depends on the cause of the corruption. But once the problem is fixed, your recycle should be as good as new.

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-By Dominic

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