Backing Up and Restoring a SharePoint Environment : Using the Recycle Bin for Recovery

Recycle Bin functionality was built-in originally with SharePoint 2007 and is available in SharePoint 2010 as well. This functionality is the first line of defense for restores, enabling end users and administrators to restore deleted items easily and reduce overheads associated with restore operations and loss of productivity.

Understanding the Two Stages of the Recycle Bin

As in SharePoint 2007, the Recycle Bin functionality in SharePoint 2010 remains the same: two staged. When an item is deleted, it goes through both Recycle Bins before being deleted completely from the database.

The first Recycle Bin, as shown in Figure 1, is at the site level. This Recycle Bin is available and managed by the end users of the site. To restore deleted items from the Recycle Bin, the end user can navigate to the Recycle Bin from the Quick Launch (left navigation in SharePoint), select the deleted items to restore, and click Restore Selection. This action restores the deleted items in their original locations.

Figure 1. Viewing a team site First Stage Recycle Bin.

Note

End users see only the items that have been deleted by them. They do not see items that have been deleted by other users.

If the end users have not restored the deleted items from the site Recycle Bin within the retention period (default is 30 days), or have deleted the items from the Recycle Bin, the items are moved to the secondary Recycle Bin. This Recycle Bin is at the site collection level, and only site collection administrators have access to this Recycle Bin to restore items for the end users, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Viewing a site collection Second Stage Recycle Bin.

Enabling Recycle Bin Functionality in SharePoint

To access the Recycle Bin settings for a particular web application, perform the following steps:

1.	Open the SharePoint Central Administration site on SharePoint 2010 Central Administration.
2.	Select Application Management in Quick Launch.
3.	Under Web Applications, click the link for Manage Web Applications.
4.	Highlight the web application that you want to manage.
5.	The Ribbon will be highlighted.
6.	Click General Settings and select General Settings from the drop-down menu.
7.	Scroll down to the Recycle Bin options, modify the settings, and click OK to save these changes.

The Recycle Bin settings listed, shown in Figure 3, allow for the following options:

• Recycle Bin Status— This setting enables the entire web application Recycle Bin, including both stages, to be toggled on or off.

  Figure 3. Understanding Recycle Bin settings for a web application.

  

• Delete Items in the Recycle Bin— This sets the number of days before items are removed from the end user Recycle Bin. The default value is 30 days. This setting can be altered with a number of days of your choice, or it can be toggled to never delete items from the Recycle Bin.

• Second Stage Recycle Bin— The Site Collection Recycle Bin, also known as the Second Stage Recycle Bin, can be either turned off or configured to be emptied after it reaches the specified percentage of the web application’s quota. For example, if the web application has a quota of 500MB, a setting of 50 percent enables up to 250MB of data to be stored in the Second Stage Recycle Bin, increasing the effective quota of the web application to 750MB. This setting can be changed to a different number up to 100 percent or can be toggled off.

Caution

These settings should be altered only after analyzing the usage pattern of the Recycle Bin at the site level, number of requests received for Second Stage Recycle Bin restore, and the type of restore requests received by the SharePoint administrators. Items retained in the Site Recycle Bin count toward the quota of a site collection, so this setting has to strike a balance between the number of days and the site collection quota. Similarly settings of 100 percent for the Second Stage Recycle Bin would mean that the size of site collection would be twice as much in the content databases.

The Recycle Bin had been introduced in SharePoint 2007 and has proved to be a value add, not only for the SharePoint administrators but also for the end users. The Recycle Bin helps reduce SharePoint restore operations, business continuity, and IT overheads. It is recommended that the end users be trained in the use of the Recycle Bin.