Some Google Drive users recently reported that the service deleted months' worth of files from their computers. If you find yourself in that predicament, help may be at hand, as Google just did shared a few tips that can help to get your files back.
It is possible that even after trying Google's methods, your files cannot be returned. So this is not a guaranteed solution. But Google says the fixes are intended for “desktop users of version 84 who experienced issues accessing local files that had yet to be synced to Drive,” so the fixes appear to be fairly limited in scope.
Judging from online reports, many users have lost files from months ago, which may contradict Google's comment that the fix applies to files not synced with Drive. I have personally lost files due to this bug and regularly sync my Google Drive app. Still, it's worth trying out Google's ideas if this bothers you.
The first method requires you to download the latest version of Google Drive. Once that is installed, you will need to run Google's recovery tool. To do this, open Drive for desktop and select the app icon in your system tray (Windows) or menu bar (macOS). Hold down the Shift key And select the Settings (gear) button then choose 'Restore from backups'.
That will start the recovery process. You'll get a message saying “Recovery has started” if there are files to restore, or “No backups found” if not. If there is a backup, you will see “Restore complete” and a new folder with your unsynchronized files will appear on your desktop.
You may also see a “Not enough disk space” message once the utility completes. In this case, you can free up disk space and try again, or try the next method to restore the files to another drive.
Choose another drive
If you perform the recovery process on another drive with more free space, you will need to use the command line, which is a little more advanced. To do this, you'll need to download the latest version of Drive for desktop again. Then close the app and open a command prompt (Windows) or Terminal (macOS).
In Windows, run the following command, including the quotes: “C:\Program Files\Google\Drive File Stream\launch.bat” –recover_from_account_backups
On macOS you need to enter this including the text characters: “/Applications/Google Drive.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Drive” –recover_from_account_backups
You can use '–recover_output_path' on the command line to specify where recovered files should be saved. The tool runs in the background in Windows and in the foreground in macOS. When this is complete, a folder called Google Drive Recovery will appear on your selected output location (desktop by default) containing your recovered files.
Restore from a backup
There is another method you can try if neither of the last two works for you, and this may help if you previously disconnected your account or deleted the Google Drive cache from your computer.
However, this technique requires that you have a Windows backup or a Time Machine backup in macOS. For full instructions on this latest solution, check out the “Advanced Data Recovery Troubleshooting Options” section Google Drive help page.
If you still can't get your files back after all this, you'll need to let Google know by submitting feedback through the Google Drive app. Use the hashtag #DFD84 and check the box to include diagnostic logs.
A real pain
This whole sad saga has been quite annoying for some Google Drive users. After all, the whole point of using the app is to keep your files safely synced, not to have them deleted.
I know this problem all too well as it has caused me to lose files. One minute they are in their folder on my computer, the next minute they have been deleted. Sometimes I've been able to find them in my computer's trash, and other times they're online in Google Drive's trash, but some files have simply disappeared without a trace.
With any luck, Google's suggested solutions could put an end to this problem, or at least help users get back files they thought were deleted. But while this Drive update may help recover your files afterwards, we don't know if it will fix the deletion of your documents at all. In the coming weeks we will look for a more permanent solution.