Please see:
https://docs.moodle.org/37/en/Recycle_bin
Set recyclebin link to show all the time in courses ... normal behavior is to hide the link in course admin menu unless there is something in recyclebin.
Check your private files area ... your backups of courses ... regardless if you were teacher in that course or not ... will be where course backups are stored.
In code directory ... I usually use admin/cli/ create a bash shell script called 'getbackups' (and make it executable). Contents of getbackups:
mysql -u root -p'yourpass' -e "use databasename;select id,filename,filesize,filearea,contenthash from
mdl_files where filename like '%.mbz';" > backups.txt ;cat backups.txt;wc -l ./backups.txt
That will create and display a backups.txt file at location of the script.
How many backup files have 'recyclebin' in filearea?
Recycle bin files are backups and they are stored in the sea of files /moodledata/filedir/
When one deletes a course, there is no recyclebin link to force removal. Have to wait for 'normal' delays in those showing up in trashdir (4 days?) before one can remove.
All that clear as mud? :|
'SoS', Ken