Does Putting a File in the Recycling Bin Permanently Delete it?

You might have planned to remove some old photos, videos, office files, or other unimportant files.

And then you move an old or unimportant file to the trash bin, but you are still wondering about: would this permanently delete the file. What if I need to restore it one day?

Does putting a file in the Recycling Bin permanently delete it?

Maybe you do this out of consideration that your hard drive storage space is running out. But after deleting, you might discover that the available space doesn’t increase.

Consequently, you are wondering “Does putting a file in the Recycling Bin permanently delete it?”

Similar to the user mentioned in the case above, perhaps you would be afraid that deleting a file will permanently remove it. Then another question comes: is it possible to retrieve the file that was deleted from the Recycle Bin?

Can a file be recovered after deleting from Recycle Bin?

Luckily, yes. But also unluckily, with prerequisites. A file deleted from the trash bin won’t be wiped right away. Instead, the access to the file was the one that was deleted.

And the file itself still waited to be overwritten by new items added to this space.

Therefore, if you stop using the hard disk, do not add anything to it, and do not do any write and read operations, the files can be recovered with the help of experts or professional data recovery tools.

After learning does putting a file in the Recycling Bin permanently deletes it, now check the tutorial below, if you have accidentally deleted files in Windows.

How to recover files from Recycle Bin?

3 common methods can solve your problem.

Method 1. Recover data from Recycle Bin directly

This is the very first course of action when you regret deleting anything. But if the files you deleted were large files, they might exceed the size limit of the Recycle Bin, please seek help from the tutorial to recover large permanently deleted files.

Notes:✎...

If you find that the deleted files are not in the Recycle Bin, check the guide to view the possible reasons.

Go to Recycle Bin > locate the file you have deleted > right-click the files you need > click Restore.

Then the recovered files will go back to their original location.

Method 2. Get deleted files back via File History

File History stores the copies of your chosen source drive, you could choose and restore any files you want.

Step 1. Go to Control Panel > System and Security > File History.

Step 2. Select Restore personal files.

Step 3. Select all the files you need to recover > click the Recycle icon. Click the arrows to view earlier versions.

In this way, you could restore deleted files easily.

Method 3. Restore deleted files using Previous Versions

Restoring previous versions of files/folders is also a good option to recover files from recycle bin.

By accessing an earlier version of the parent folder that contains the deleted files, you could bring the removed data back to its original location.

Step 1. Go to File Explorer > locate the folder where your deleted files used to be.

Step 2. Right-click the folder > Properties > Previous Versions > choose a folder version and click Restore.

Then the deleted files will be restored to their original place.

How to recover files deleted from Recycle Bin easily?

Both the File History and Previous Versions need to be enabled before file deletion, otherwise, you have no available data to recover.

For those who are not that foresighted and haven’t made any backups, how to recover files from Recycle Bin easily?

You might as well turn to a trustworthy Windows data recovery tool – MyRecover, and let it help you restore items deleted from Recycle Bin.

Using this app, you could restore deleted and missing data from local or portable storage devices, including HDD/SSD/USB/SD cards. 

All deleted data could be recovered along with the original format, filename, and directory. 

Over 200 types of data are supported; you could recover whatever you want, including photos, videos, office files, etc. 

It can work perfectly with your Windows PC, from Windows 11/10/8/7 SP1 to Windows Server.

Can a file be recovered after deleting from Recycle Bin? Of course yes, with this tool, you could make it with no effort.

Step 1. Install and run the software > hover the mouse over the source drive where you have deleted files from > click Scan.

Step 2. Search for the files you need by using the filters: Size, Type, Date modified, etc.

Step 3. Go to Deleted files > navigate to the original location > select the files you need to restore > click Recover x files. Or go to Other missing files > recover certain types of files.

Not only a local drive, but it also works well in data recovery from external hard drives. You could use it to recover photos from external hard disks.

FAQ about Recycle Bin recovery

The question “Does putting a file in the Recycling Bin permanently deletes it?” has been given with a detailed answer and the guide to help you recover files deleted from Recycle Bin is prepared.

Check the FAQ corner if you need extra info.