Trash (computing)
In computing, the trash, also known by other names such as trash bin, dustbin, wastebasket, and similar names, is a graphical user interface desktop metaphor for temporary storage for files set aside by the user for deletion, but which are not yet permanently erased.
[1][2] Whether or not files deleted by a program go to the recycle bin depends on its level of integration with a particular desktop environment and its function.
[citation needed] Bill Atkinson began developing the Apple Lisa user interface in late 1978.
[3][4] The release version of Lisa was launched in 1983 with a "Wastebasket",[5] its icon "an alley-style garbage can [with] vertical lines to indicate a ribbed surface .... an open lid and a handle on the front of the can.
This incorporated some elements of the Lisa interface, including a refined version of the icon, now labelled Trash,[10] with "a closed lid with a handle on top.
"[6] An ad supplement in Newsweek introduced the Mac interface, with its "pictures of objects you'll have no trouble recognizing ...
[14] In early versions of the Macintosh Finder, Trash contents were in volatile memory, and were lost when the computer restarted.
Non-Apple software could use other metaphors for file deletion, such as Recycle Bin, Smart Eraser, or Shredder.
[17][18] Microsoft introduced its current trash system in 1995, the Recycle Bin, with Windows 95, as an area to store and review files and folders prior to deletion.
The current (revised) Recycle Bin allows for subdirectory trees to exist within folders that have been moved there.
With the new interface of Mac OS X introduced in 2001, the Trash icon moved from the desktop to a permanent place at the end of the Dock.
[21] In keeping with the system appearance, the Trash was a shiny wire basket, until with OS X Yosemite in 2014 it became a translucent white container.
To restore highlighted items from the Trash to their original position, a contextual menu brings up a Put Back option.
The Trash folder shows deleted files from external drives, including removable media.
[28] This does not apply to networked drives, where trying to move an item to Trash brings up a warning that it will be deleted immediately and this cannot be undone.
Microsoft's Recycle Bin is implemented as a special folder with columns like Date deleted and Original location.
[35] In previous Windows operating systems and in MS-DOS, undeletion was the only way to recover accidentally or intentionally deleted files.
[citation needed] The Recycle Bin has a setting to configure the amount of deleted files it can store.
Free disk space allocated for this is not actually used until files are deleted from folders and stored in the Recycle Bin.
[37] The 1984 original Mac and several of its successors (up to the 1987 Macintosh SE) lacked a (then prohibitively expensive) hard drive.
The GNOME Human Interface Guidelines cite using a waste basket to eject a removable disk as an example of a metaphor taken beyond its reasonable use.
