Google Drive Users Report Mysterious Disappearance of Files

Several Google Drive users have turned to the platform’s support page reporting the unexpected disappearance of their files. The initial account was documented by an individual identified as Yeonjoong nearly a week ago on the platform’s official help site, followed by over 140 individuals marking the “I have the same question” button.

https://support.google.com/drive/thread/245055606/google-drive-files-suddenly-disappeared-the-drive-literally-went-back-to-condition-in-may-2023?hl=en

“The files from my Google Drive suddenly vanished,” wrote the author of the post. “The Drive has reverted back to how it was in May 2023. Data from May until today has disappeared, and the directory structure has returned to its status from May,” described the report.

Yeonjoong mentioned not having manually deleted any files, so there are no files in the Trash, and they also haven’t synchronized or shared files with anyone. They further informed having followed the recovery steps suggested by Google’s support team but without success.

Also Read: WhatsApp Backup Storage to Impact Google Drive Space for Android Users

Google’s Investigation

The issue has drawn attention from Google, with a response from the company’s support team posted on the support page. In a message sent two days ago, the company stated that “other administrators [of the help forum] have received reports that the same behavior was encountered after an update and that files were missing.”

“Our product engineers are investigating this and we are waiting to analyze the root cause [of the problem] as well as to provide a fix,” stated the message.

While a solution is pending, Google’s recommendation is to avoid making any changes to the folders at the “root” of the account, the primary Drive directory that encompasses all other folders and files.

Despite acknowledging the issue, the owner of Drive has not provided any timeline for resolving the problem. It remains unclear whether the file loss is permanent or if it will be possible to recover the deleted content.

For now, users are advised to refrain from making extensive modifications to the file and folder structure of their Drive to avoid encountering problems.

The Google Drive community eagerly awaits further updates and a resolution to this unexpected disappearance of files, as Google’s engineers continue their investigation into the matter.

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