Google says it has fixed an issue that caused users’ Drive cloud storage to revert to a snapshot from around April/May 2023, Ars Technica reports.
The Alphabet Inc-owned tech giant also locked the Drive community forum thread where the issue was initially reported before it was clear the problem was solved.
Google acknowledged the problems on 27 November 2023, putting them down to a “syncing issue” with the Drive desktop app versions 84.0.0.0 through 84.0.4.0.
However, this doesn’t fully explain the issue. A syncing problem would only mean files don’t upload or download from the cloud.
Therefore, it doesn’t explain why some users’ files disappeared completely.
Google also hasn’t explained how it fixed the issue but offered instructions outlining a few ways to recover lost files.
“Once recovery is complete, you’ll see a new folder on your desktop with the unsynced files named Google Drive Recovery,” it said.
However, Drive users who managed to respond in the thread before it was closed complained that the fix “doesn’t work for most people”.
In late November 2023, Google Drive users reported that files they recently uploaded to the platform disappeared.
“My Google Drive files suddenly disappeared. The Drive literally went back to the condition in May 2023,” one user posted in the now-closed thread.
“Data from May until today disappeared, and the folder structure went back to status in May.”
Google Drive activity logs showed no recent changes, confirming that the users never deleted the files.
Loading ...
Join the conversation Autoload comments
Comments section policy: MyBroadband has a new article comments policy which aims to encourage constructive discussions. To get your comments published, make sure it is civil and adds value to the discussion.