Google has released a fix for users who have been reporting in official support forums that files have gone missing from their Google Drive folders. This follows complaints that their accounts were mysteriously reset to a status from May, with everything after that going AWOL. However, some users now report that the fix isn’t working for them. Here’s what we know so far.
Google Drive For Desktop Sync Issue Confirmed
As I reported on November 30, users were complaining about losses of six months worth of data from their desktop Drive folders. At the time, one user determined that it was likely a sync issue that had left local files cached and, crucially, hidden away in a backup folder that was inaccessible after the files failed to upload to the cloud. This would, indeed, appear to be the case with Google confirming that “a small subset of Drive for desktop users” were impacted by an issue with local file changes that had yet to synced to Drive. This specifically affected those users running version 84 of Drive for desktop. “This issue did not impact any file changes that had already synced and were visible on the Drive mobile app or within the Drive UI on the web,” Google said.
Google Releases Fix For Missing Drive Files
Following an investigation into the incident, Google has now published a support guide for those affected users. The ‘How to restore files in Drive for desktop (v84.0.0.0-84.0.4.0)’ document provides step-by-step instructions for recovering the missing files. The most straightforward method is to download the latest Drive for desktop version, which will be 85.0.13.0 or later, and open the app. It’s then just a case of heading for the settings menu and selecting ‘Recover from backups.’ If a backup is detected, the recovery tool will report how many files were found and a ‘Google Drive Recovery’ folder. Create containing them. In theory, at least.
Google advises that if the account has been disconnected, or the Drive for desktop cached removed, as suggested by some users as a workaround, those instructions might not work. In this case, further details are provided for Windows and Mac users. Google also says that any user experiencing issues with the recovery tool should submit feedback through the app by using the hashtag #DFD84 or contact support directly. I have reached out to Google for more information and will update this article should any be forthcoming.
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