Missing option to move file to recycle bin

external hard drivehard driventfsrecycle-binwindows 10

recently, i bought a seagate backup plus slim 2TB external HDD so that i could move my in-game recorded video before editing. i used a third party partition software to format my new drive to NTFS from exFAT and run a disk check for error. no error was found.

then, i remove and reconnected my drive and i was unable to access my drive. i asked others and they said it was due to security issue which i was able to solve. then i tried to copy some videos to my drive. no problem in copying files but there was no changes to drive size. i did a disk check to solve the incorrect drive size bitmap problem.

but now, i have a problem in file deletion where i can only delete my file permanently but there was no option to move to recycle bin. i checked my recycle bin properties. the "don't move file to recycle bin" option was unchecked.

IMAGE – missing recycle bin option

Best Answer

First, if the drive is optimized for quick removal, as in USB flash drives, no Recycle Bin is shown. Check Better performance, and probably enable write caching, for an external HDD or SSD.

Quick Removal dlg

Second, very large files or files that added to existing trash would exceed the size set for the Recycle Bin cannot be recycled. Set the maximum size of the bin appropriately. Even so, Windows may warn you a file is too large for the bin.

Size of Recycle Bin

Third, as you mentioned, "Don't move files to the Recycle Bin..." should not be selected for the external USB drive. This setting is per drive.

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