Recently I installed a new hard drive, which I partitioned into more than 1 logical drive. It took a couple of attempts before I was happy with the new setup, so I was copying folders from here to there and back again.
I have always been a little nervous of the "Move" command, so I copied the folders in batches, and once I was sure they were copied I deleted the originals, and here is the rub. The way my folders were displaying I had (in list view) columns of 28. When I deleted two columns I expected to see 56 folders in the recycle bin, but there were only 36, 20 folders had disappeared entirely!
This has occurred at other times, when I did actually want to recycle items only to find them missing. And it is still happening.
The most recent example is two half edited, and no longer required versions of .mpg files sitting on the desktop, I drag both to the Recycle Bin and when I open the bin, only one file. And yes .mpg files can be big but I did not get the "xyz.mpg is too big for the Recycle Bin ..." message, so I would like to know why stuff is disappearing in this manner. It is a bit spooky.
I run regular scans with SpyBot, mbam, Avast and SuperAntispyware, none of which has shown more than tracking cookies in strange places.

The recycle bin may be corrupt. See How the Recycle Bin Stores Files

Also, next time you want to move large numbers of files and folders, check out xcopy.

maybe you're trying to delete files that will take you past your recycle bin's max size.

Hi Digerati,
Thanks for the links, I will try the stuff for the possibly corrupt Recycle Bin, and post with what I find. I have noticed a folder called "Recycler" on other drives, I assume that is the same thing. I assume that because Microsoft have a page of tips for dealing with this problem that this problem is not unique to me, but how common is it? And what is the likely cause?
The stuff for xcopy made my head hurt.
Hi townsbg,
You may be right in suggesting the files were too large for the Recycle Bin. However when I delete some of those large .mpg files I mentioned in the first post I do get a message saying that the files are too large, do I want to delete them completely? The ones that I mentioned in the post, that I dragged off the desktop, did not give me the "too big" message, but one of two disappeared anyway. Something does seem screwy with the Recycle Bin.
Will post again when I have a chance to try Digerati's fix.
And "too big" begs the question What is the maximum size of file that the Recycle Bin can handle
Cheers

What is the maximum size of file that the Recycle Bin can handle

That depends on your hard drive size and what percent of it you've allocated to the Recycle Bin. Default is 12% of the drive. Right click on the Recycle Bin and select Properties to see.

Hi all,
Sorry for a tardy response.
I attempted all the suggestions on the Microsoft link "How the Recycle Bin Stores Files"
When I attempted to perform the first set of instructions for Damaged or Deleted INFO File I got syntax errors.
When I attempted the second, Damaged Files in Recycle Bin I recreated the Desktop.ini file.
I really have no idea if the original was missing or damaged. I have my settings set to show hidden files folders, so I should be able to see a faint version of the Desktop,ini file if it is there. I can't see anything, so I am assuming it is missing. The instructions are vague, I assumed that I would type the information into a notepad document, however this file did not survive the "Empty the Recycle Bin" command.
I am not sure how to create a hidden file, the properties tab offers no help.
The third option, of restarting in Safe Mode with Command Prompt got me file not found, for the command "attrib -s -h recycled". For the command "del recycled" I got path\filename not found.
As to the file size issue, thanks Ztruker, this is set, on the global tab, to 10%. As this is something I did not know about, I had seen somewhere that there was a percentage for each drive, but prior to Ztruker posting I did not know how to set or alter this, I don't know how it got set to something other than the 12% default.
I don't know what to do next.

More info on this problem.
I have spent the afternoon moving files around to empty one HDD which I am replacing with a larger one.
Accidentally copied some files to the wrong folder, and since locating them I have been deleting the unnecessary copies in batches, and emptying the Recycle Bin as I go (these are picture files, some are quite large).
On one occasion I went to empty the Recycle Bin, which appeared to have 6 to 8 folders visible. The dialogue asked if I wanted to delete these 16 files, so the files that have been disappearing have somehow become invisible, but the system still sees them.
Another worry is that twice during this process the computer has locked, with the task manager showing explorer.exe running at 100% of CPU.
After the third restart I deleted 1 folder, and now explorer.exe is sitting on a steady 50% of CPU. Apart from the browser, the only thing running is the task manager and a little utility program that tells me how much of my download allowance I have used.
This is on top of a number of occasions when I get a message that Windows/system has to close exporer.exe before the computer will shut down.
I am beginning to suspect some sort of corruption within Windows, and I could do with some advice.

Please tell us about that utility & if possible provide a screen shot.

Windows Explorer should not be using that much horse power so I also suspect corruption or perhaps malware. Please hit the windows key & r to bring up the run box type cmd in it. When you get the command prompt type in sfc /scannow.

Also I suggest that you read this first and post a new thread here.

I just posted a reply, and the thing must have timed out, and it has disappeared into the ether.
The utility is a small program that checks with my ISP periodically and updates my usage figures. Screenshot attached.
As for exporer.exe, I decided just to give the computer a break and shut it down for the evening, next day it was back to normal, I feel a bit like the boy who cried wolf.
sfc /scannow ran, but produced no report, don't know what to make of that.
I also read the link, GMER is a recent addition, mbam and TFC I already have.
I will run the scans and post in the appropriate section of the forum.
Thanks again

Please work with the security staff until they tell you otherwise.