Differences Between the Recycle Bin and the Recycler Folder

View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q171694

Expand all | Collapse all

SUMMARY

This article describes the difference between the Recycle Bin and the Recycler folder.

When you delete a file in Windows NT Explorer or My Computer, the file is stored in the Recycle Bin. The file remains in the Recycle Bin until you empty the Recycle Bin or restore the file.

The Recycler folder is used only on NTFS partitions. The Recycler folder contains a Recycle Bin for each user that logs on to the computer, sorted by their security identifier (SID).

For additional information about the Recycle Bin, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

136517 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/136517/EN-US/ ) How the Recycle Bin Stores Files

For additional information about Windows NT security identifiers, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

162001 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/162001/EN-US/ ) Do Not Disk Duplicate Installed Versions of Windows NT