Sandman78

Ok, I fixed the "problem". I knew something didn't look right. Whenever I create a new partition or format, I'm used to exploring the drive and seeing nothing, and at most maybe a "cloudy" folder (hidden). But this RECYCLER folder was as yellow/gold(non hidden) as it gets. It wasn't a hidden file and it wasn't a system file. I believe it was the real recycler folder, the attributes were just funky. It had something to do with Norton Protected Recycle Bin(Norton Antivirus 2005). I disabled that feature on all the drives, booted in safe mode, did a quick format on the drive, rebooted, and now the RECYCLER folder is a hidden/system folder. So you can't see it with "Show hidden Files" enabled, but if you uncheck "Hide Protected System Files" you can see it. Thank you for your help.

I forgot about unchecking "Hide Protected Operating System Files" on my other drives and laptop(when looking for the folder). I did that and I see it, but on the drive in question, it act's like it's not considered an "operating system file". I'm so used to opening a new drive and NOT seeing anything, except this time I saw "RECYCLER". Wonder why that's different? For all my other systems (and drives on the same system) I have to uncheck "Hide Protected Operating System Files" to see the folder. But not this drive.

I deleted a 200gb partition and re-created & formatted it. It then had a "RECYCLER" folder on it. This is not my primary drive in the system, so I checked the other drives and partitions in the system and they do not have the folder. The folder was not on the drive before, and I am the one who partitioned it when it was brand new. I checked my laptop's drives, and they don't have the "RECYCLER" folder either. All the drives are NTFS (laptop is also). I also created a 80gb partition on an external drive yesterday on the same system, and it also doesn't have the folder. Why would that folder show up all of a sudden, and why don't any of my other drives have it? Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.