Lost half year of data

[ds6avc]

We have lost six months of our data on Google Drive. This has major implications for how we run our business. I received an email from Google about this. But: what should we do next? How do we get our data back? Google: What is the status? Help!

[christiannewman]

Data may have been lost due to a sync issue (with version 84.0.0.0 of the Google Drive for Desktop sync utility) between the local hard drive, and Google Drive.

Since the files never touched the Google Drive service, the may still be stored somewhere in the cache of your local hard drive.

Google is tracking this issue and will provide updates here.  (be sure to subscribe to updates)

In the meantime, it's very important that you NOT disconnect the sync utility from your account. Upon disconnection, your local hard drive will purge its cached files (which is where files you intend to send to Google Drive are saved until they are able to connect and get pushed to the Google Drive service).

I rarely use Google Drive for desktop - rather, interact with Google Drive directly 99% of the time - but on my machine, I've already received an update to version 84.0.6.0 and am pleased to report that everything is syncing normally.

I know this doesn't help you recover the files (which I hope are still hiding somewhere on your hard drive) but I hope this helps you better understand what's going on and how to maximize your chances of recovery.

If there's anything more I can do to help, just ask!

[ds6avc]

Thank you very much for your clarification and thx for the tip, from now on better to interact with Google Drive directly 🙂

Any idea how I can find stored data on my local hard drive?

[christiannewman]

Follow the post I linked in you. Google is working on solutions and will post updates there if they're able to create one.

Additional reasons to use Drive directly

[Penelope]

I can confirm that this is a known issue: https://support.google.com/drive/thread/245861992?hl=en. I personally can't share anything beyond that and what is publicly known myself. 

I will note that some users are utilizing some interesting fixes including the following:

1. Uninstall Google Drive.

2. Install an old version of Google Drive (there's a version 82/83 floating around on the internet).

3. Disable the 2 Google Update services (they won't be running, but they still need to be disabled).

4. Disable the Google Update scheduled tasks (2 of them).

5. Make sure Google Drive is not running.

6. In the User Data folder, go into Google > DriveFS > the folder with a long number.

7. In that folder there's a folder called backups, which has another folder with a couple of long numbers. Move all of the files from the "Backup" folder into the main folder (from step 6).

8. Start Google Drive.

9. Go into your G Drive (or wherever it is) and copy _absolutely everything_ somewhere else outside of Google Drive.

Due to the way that Google caches stuff, what you have locally will be your latest files. The problem looks to be that things weren't being uploaded properly.

10. If you want to carry on using Google Drive (!!!), re-enable the update services and wait for Google Drive to update. It will then sign you out and reset your local state to what it had in the cloud.

11. Use a tool like robocopy to overwrite the contents of your G Drive with what you had copied elsewhere.

[Penelope]

Hi All, you might find this interesting: https://support.google.com/drive/answer/14286582. It was just released. 

[nowhereman87]

Finally fixed ! thanks a lot for the shout