Google Drivedecided to play hide-and-seek with months of user datain November, triggering a flood of complaints on the Google Support forum. Google admitted that a “limited subset” of Drive for desktop users got the short end of the stick. If you’re caught up in this mess, Google has released a guide that might help you reclaim your lost files.
There’s no magicalrestore allbutton here, but Google’sstep-by-step guidecan help you get back those missing files. It’ll require some local storage space and might get technical with the command line.
First off, make sure you have the latestGoogle Drivefor desktop app (version 85.0.13.0 or newer) installed on your Windows or macOS. Then, run the app’s recovery tool by clicking the Drive icon in the menu bar or system tray, holding downShift, clickingSettings, and choosingRecover from backups. If luck’s on your side, you’ll get a notice saying “Recovery has started.” Once it’s done, Google neatly tucks away all your restored files into a new folder namedGoogle Drive recovery.
If you get hit with a “Not enough disk space” message after the tool does its thing, you may clear up some space and give it another shot.
If the first method doesn’t do the trick, hop on to the next step. Check out Google’ssupport pagefor the nitty-gritty on using the command line interface and some troubleshooting tips. Still, you’ll need the latest version of Drive for desktop before you dive in.
If the previous tricks aren’t cutting it for you, there’s one more method to give a shot. This might be the ticket if you’ve ever disconnected your account or cleared out the Drive cache from your computer. If you have a Windows backup or a Time Machine backup on macOS, head over to theAdditional troubleshooting options for data recoverysection in the Google Drive help page for a complete guide on this process.
While giving Google’s methods a shot might not guarantee the return of your files, there’s still hope. With a bit of luck, the suggested fixes from Google could potentially rescue files you thought were lost forever.
If, after trying all those hacks, your files are still playing hide-and-seek, it’s time to shoot Google a heads-up. Head over to the Google Drive app and submit feedback. Be sure to use the hashtag #DFD84 and tick the box to include diagnostic logs.
