not getting credit for deleting files

I have an odd problem with a secondary HDD on my PC: Windows doesn't seem to always give me credit for deleting files. Yesterday I was unable to extract a downloaded archive due to lack of space on the disk. I found a subfolder that contained about 15 GB worth of zipped archives. When I tried to delete the archives, I got a prompt with a message like the following:

"Are you sure you want to move this file to the Recycle Bin?"

When I clicked "Yes", I got another popup that says:

"You'll need to provide administrator permission to delete this file" (or folder)

When I clicked "Continue", the files were permanently deleted and didn't go to the Recycle Bin, yet I didn't get any credit for deleting them; the amount of free space shown when I right-clicked on the drive in Windows explorer didn't change from what it was before I deleted the files.

I restarted the computer but that didn't change the amount of free space reported on the drive.

I ran chkdsk but it didn't appear to find any issues:

PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> chkdsk d: /f /r /x
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume dismounted. All opened handles to this volume are now invalid.
Volume label is .

Stage 1: Examining basic file system structure ...
79360 file records processed.
File verification completed.
Phase duration (File record verification): 1.44 seconds.
2409 large file records processed.
Phase duration (Orphan file record recovery): 0.00 milliseconds.
0 bad file records processed.
Phase duration (Bad file record checking): 0.20 milliseconds.

Stage 2: Examining file name linkage ...
19113 reparse records processed.
101996 index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
Phase duration (Index verification): 11.03 seconds.
0 unindexed files scanned.
Phase duration (Orphan reconnection): 37.31 milliseconds.
0 unindexed files recovered to lost and found.
Phase duration (Orphan recovery to lost and found): 1.82 milliseconds.
19113 reparse records processed.
Phase duration (Reparse point and Object ID verification): 85.79 milliseconds.

Stage 3: Examining security descriptors ...
Security descriptor verification completed.
Phase duration (Security descriptor verification): 40.74 milliseconds.
11319 data files processed.
Phase duration (Data attribute verification): 2.72 milliseconds.
CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
36222912 USN bytes processed.
Usn Journal verification completed.
Phase duration (USN journal verification): 672.93 milliseconds.

Stage 4: Looking for bad clusters in user file data ...
79344 files processed.
File data verification completed.
Phase duration (User file recovery): 2.32 hours.

Stage 5: Looking for bad, free clusters ...
115747 free clusters processed.
Free space verification is complete.
Phase duration (Free space recovery): 0.00 milliseconds.

Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems.
No further action is required.

732563967 KB total disk space.
731844912 KB in 65525 files.
52728 KB in 11320 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
203335 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
462992 KB available on disk.

I have since downloaded some test files to various folders on the D: drive (including the one I initially deleted the 15 GB of zipped files from). When I delete them, Windows now moves them to the recycle bin first without an admin prompt, as expected, and when I empty them from the recycle bin the reported disk free space increases by the expected amount. Yet I still never received credit for the original 15 GB of deleted files.

What could be going on here? Why does Windows sometimes require admin permissions to delete files/folders off the D: drive, and why am I sometimes not receiving credit for deleting files from the D: drive?

Note the D: drive is encrypted with Bitlocker and I have reported the issue of requiring admin permissions to delete files/folders here before (with no one knowing what was causing that issue):

all folders on drive marked as "read only"; del requires admin rights

UPDATE

After some additional searching and running the EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, I found the following folder on my hard drive:

D:\$RECYCLE.BIN

This file contains all of the files I deleted yesterday but didn't receive credit for. Is this folder different from the Recycle Bin icon that shows up in Windows Explorer? When I click on the Recycle Bin icon the contents are empty, but D:\$RECYCLE.BIN contains lots of stuff. What is going on here?

Just curious.... Do you ever hold the left shift key down while you click on "Delete"?
That bypasses the Recycle Bin, and the files go right to the ol' Bit Bucket. (GONE!)
If that mystery drive is a spinner, and NOT an SSD, Defragment it! Or, as I've done in the past, backup that drive to another drive, then reformat it and restore it from the backup. That also performs the worlds best Defrag.

Run Disk cleanup on C: and on D:
%windir%\system32\cleanmgr.exe

When you delete a folder on an External USB HDD, it sends it to the Recycle Bin on the D: drive which is not visible and is connected to the Recycle Bin on the C: Drive. If you Empty the Recycle Bin at this point, it will remove the Deleted files on the D: drive. However, if you disconnect the External D: drive or turn it off, then reattach it, the files will remain in the Hidden D:\$RECYCLE.BIN folder.
You also can Empty the $Recycle Bin in an Elevated Command Prompt Fix Corrupted Recycle Bin in Windows

Citizen Snips said:

Also see my edit above - I found a folder called D:\$RECYCLE.BIN that contains a ton of files and folders, including the ones I deleted yesterday but never received credit for. When I click on the Recycle Bin icon the contents are empty, but D:\$RECYCLE.BIN contains lots of stuff. What is going on here?

That hidden "folder" is your Recycle Bin on your D: drive.
(The whole idea behind the Recycle Bins in Windows is that all they are, are a hidden folder that files get moved to, when you "send them to the Recycle Bin". Once you "empty out the Recycle Bin", this means that you are permanently deleting those files from that folder.

So, yes, the files that you deleted are now in that folder. It is completely safe to delete the files from there, as long as you don't want them anymore! You will get your "credit" for the amount of space that they're taking up. (In Windows, it's called you get "free space" back onto your drive, instead of "credit". If they had something to do with you getting money back, then you can call them "credit" =P

Here's a link to ways that you can try to "repair" your Recycle Bin on that drive, but I don't think anything is wrong with it. Maybe Windows had a small glitch and didn't ask you about deleting a huge 15 GB. Sometimes things happen:
Fix Corrupted Recycle Bin in Windows 10 without Losing Data – EaseUS


Also, Right click your Recycle Bin -> Properties:

Double check on that.

Citizen Snips said:

Aren't those two locations supposed to be pointing to the exact same folder? I'm used to just clicking on the Recycle Bin icon in Windows Explorer to see what that contents are, yet here there seems to be a large discrepancy.

Technically yes. The Recycle Bin on your Desktop is pretty much a "location" which combines all the "$RECYCLE BIN" folders from every drive, together into one folder. So it should show all the items in your C: drive's Recycle Bin & your D: drive's Recycle Bin (& other drives' Recycle Bins, if you have more drives).

So according to this information, it does seem like your Windows is having a little bit of corruption behind the whole Recycle Bin concept. Check out the commands in the link that I provided above, to try to repair your Recycle Bins so they can show the correct deelted items all-in-one on your Desktop's Recycle Bin.
Use the commands to repair all your drives' Recycle Bins.

Hopefully that would fix the problem.

Or as a different measure, delete all the files in your D:'s Recycle Bin folder (you will get your free space back), and then, create a new empty Notepad (text) file, on your D: drive, specifically on that drive! Then delete that file (so it goes to the Recycle Bin), and double click your Desktop Recycle Bin. Hopefully it shows up in there. If it does, then your D drive's Recycle Bin should be fixed.



EDIT (~3:56 PM my local time):
I apologize I completely forgot about mentioning what I had to mention about when it asks you for permission about certain files. (I forget so much so quickly). lol sorry about that.

Regarding the Permissions, if you delete files that are files that you didn't create, that the Windows operating system created, or other apps created, the likeliness of having that question asked for those files, when getting deleted, is highly likely. Reason why is because you're not the ones who made those files. Some apps, and Windows OS, put that little "addition" as more of a security measure, so for you to double check and make sure you actually do want to delete those files. This happens on my end, when I delete some files from the Windows folder.

I delete random stuff, randomly, at random times, ...just for some random fun. And I get asked that ......... random question (why not), about Permissions.

Also, there are specific folders that if I try to access them, I get a question stating that I need permission to access the folder. I give myself every single permission possible. I use God-Mode when I use my computer. I grant myself every permission possible, because I now claim ownership of this computer.

This is a perfect replica of me when I use my computer:
YOU ARE MINE NOW! YOU BELONG TO ME! - Arnold Schwarzenegger - YouTube

Megahertz said:

Run Disk cleanup on C: and on D:
%windir%\system32\cleanmgr.exe

+1. Great tool I didn't know about until now.

Hello @x509,

Megahertz said:

Run Disk cleanup on C: and on D:

Code:

%windir%\system32\cleanmgr.exe

x509 said:

Great tool I didn't know about until now.

Further to the above for detailed information > How to Open and Use Disk Cleanup in Windows 10

I hope this helps.