Google is investigating an issue with the Drive service that is causing files to disappear
Several users of the Google Drive platform reported that their files that they had stored on it for several years simply disappeared. Now tech giant Google is investigating the problem, which it actually admitted exists and says is likely caused by the Drive for desktop app.
As first reported by 9to5Google, users claim to have lost some spreadsheets that they have regularly updated over the past five years, with their change history showing the latest version from January 2019.
„I'm really pissed myself because all important data is gone and I don't have any local copy“, says one of them.
Google said in its announcement that it is investigating reports of an issue that “affects a limited subset of users of the Drive for desktop application,” and that it will provide more information in the future. The company notes that the issue affects Drive for desktop versions 84.0.0.0 through 84.0.4.09.
GoogleAlso, Google recommends users not to click “disconnect account” inside the app, and not to delete or move the app folder named DriveFS, which you can read more about here.
Gigant offers several ways to recover (or at least check) deleted files, including browsing the Trash folder, which is now automatically emptied after 30 days. It's also a good idea to check the activity panel, which shows all deleted or moved files along with the corresponding dates.
However, for this latest issue, the activity panel does not show that the files are gone, according to those who complained about the issue. In order to prevent such incidents in the future, it might be wiser to save important files on the memory of your computer, phone or external hard drive just in case.