I've recently transitioned to using Bazzite, which is an immutable Fedora Atomic desktop, and I've noticed that the trash behavior is quite different from what I was used to on Windows. From my understanding, in Windows, the recycle bin doesn't take up space on the drive dynamically, and it automatically deletes older files as new ones are added or as the drive fills up. However, on Linux, it seems the trash is a fixed size of approximately 200GB, and nothing is being deleted automatically. When I try to delete files, I get a message saying the trash is full. Is there a way to configure it so that it functions like Windows, where I don't have to manually manage the trash? It feels a bit inconvenient to have to keep emptying the trash myself.
3 Answers
I never knew Windows would auto-delete files from the recycle bin! I always thought it was just manual cleanup. But in Linux, you can't set files to not take up space by just moving them to the trash - that's not how it works here. If you want to save space, you should just delete the files directly instead of relying on the trash.
Honestly, I found the trash bin on Windows always took up space, especially when using smaller SSDs. I had to empty it regularly to avoid running out of space. You could look into setting up a bash script for your trash that prunes older files or empties it automatically when it reaches a certain limit. That way, you don’t have to worry about it filling up too much!
That sounds like a good plan! I think a script could really help manage the trash automatically.
Yep, the whole trash bin situation can be a bit confusing at first. I do think it’s strange that the trash doesn't auto-manage itself like it does in Windows. Maybe consider checking if there’s a way to adjust the settings or look into community scripts that can automate it for you.
Yeah, I've been doing the same for years. Directly deleting files feels cleaner for me!