Panic reigns among several Google Drive users, who report having suddenly lost several months of data. Without any explanation, they saw their file disappear and their Drive return to the state it was in 6 months, or even 2 years ago in some cases. It becomes imperative to make a backup of your files before Google fixes the problem.
This is a small massacre that is taking place among some Google Drive users. On support forums, many people share their misfortunes. And there is reason to worry: if the sudden loss of files is certainly an annoying phenomenon, but not particularly trivial, the scale of the bug this time is completely different. In fact, we are talking here about several months of data simply disappearing into the wild, without the slightest explanation.
In a way, it’s as if the affected users’ drive had automatically restored itself to its state several months ago. Some mention worrying durations: 3 months for some, up to 6 months, even 2 years for others. Files, folders, tree structure: everything was restored automatically, without the user having performed any specific action on their storage service. This also leads to funny situations, such as Google Drive displaying files several months old in “Recent Files”.
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It is urgent to take a backup of your Google Drive
The problem seems particularly thorny, since it does not only concern one version of the application. The problem was spotted both on the web and desktop versions – which also suggests the worst for the missing files. Indeed, if we could think of an interface problem, which would simply hide the files from the view of users, the fact that they are not visible on any version of Drive is not very reassuring.
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When informed, Google quickly indicated that an investigation is underway to correct this bug. It appears that a recent update is causing the problem. “Our engineers are currently investigating the situation. We also seek the origin [du bug] to find out how we can solve it,” the Mountain View firm informed one of the users affected by the bug. Furthermore, she advises not to touch your files until a solution is found, as this risks corrupting the data stored in the cloud.
However, you can make a backup of your cloud. In view of the situation, this is even very strongly recommended, to avoid losing all the files and folders stored over the last few months. Luckily, the operation is rather simple. Here’s how to do it:
- Go to the Google Takeout website
- If you haven’t already done so, log in to your Google account
- Click on All deselect
- Scroll down until you find the section Drive and check the box there
- Click on All Drive data included
- Check the box Include all files and folders in Google Drive
- Click on advanced settings
- Check the boxes Include named, published, and imported versions
And Include additional information about files and folders - At the very bottom of the page, click Next step
- From the drop-down menu, select Send download link by email
- Click on Create an export
- In the received email, click on Upload your files
Source: Ghacks