Remove unreachable recycle bin crap
On a networked (work) computer that has been used by a lot of other users, I was running low on hard drive space.
Running spacesniffer (as admin) I saw that there were 26+ GB of files under C:\$Recycle.Bin -- even though I had already emptied the hard drive.
I reasoned that these were things the other users had put in the recycle bin. Or the recycle bin was in some way corrupted.
I don't care why -- I just need lots of space in a hurry to complete a task with a tight deadline.
The solution
from an elevated command prompt and then
rd /s/q c:\$Recycle.Bin
Output:
C:\>rd /s/q c:\$Recycle.Bin
The directory is not empty.
C:\>rd /s/q c:\$Recycle.Bin
(I had to run it twice.)