Subj : Some Google Drive users are reporting losing six months of files To : All From : TechnologyDaily Date : Mon Nov 27 2023 16:30:06 Some Google Drive users are reporting losing six months of files Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2023 16:23:38 +0000 Description: If your Google Drive suddenly reverts to a state from months ago, with recent files vanishing, youre not alone. FULL STORY ====================================================================== Some Google Drive users are experiencing a bunch of recent files vanishing from their cloud storage locker, according to reports flagging up the issue online. An affected person first brought this to Googles attention on its support forums , saying that the last six months of files suddenly vanished in whats obviously a worrying turn of events. The user wrote: The Drive literally went back to [its] condition in May 2023. That included the folder structure reverting to that old state from half a year ago. It seems a fair few users are affected, as evidenced by a number of responses, and 150 have clicked the button on the post to say that they have the same problem (10 more in the past hour as weve been writing this story). Not everyone is being rolled back six months, but the reversion process is generally going back at least a few months. Another user reports getting a reply from Google support as follows: I am continuously tracking this case and to be transparent with you we totally agree now that you are not the only customer affected by this behavior. Were told other admins have reported the same issue with files going missing, and Googles software engineers are now investigating, and a root cause analysis is being prepared. While work is supposedly underway on a resolution, sadly Google support has no firm ETA for a fix yet. We are told, however, that: We dont recommend as well to make changes on the root/data folder while we wait for instructions from our Engineers. Its worth noting that we dont know for sure if this response from Google support is genuine, as its not directly coming from the company, rather its being indirectly relayed by a Google Drive user. But it would be an odd (and rather pointless) thing to make up. Analysis: Leave well alone, for now (Image credit: Shutterstock) At any rate, if youve been unlucky enough to be hit by this problem, wed say follow the advice for now and dont mess around with any of your folders in Google Drive. Indeed, by the sound of things, we wouldnt do anything at all with Drive if you can avoid it. Stay clear, sit tight, and hope a resolution comes quickly. A report on Reddit suggests that the problem could be something to do with updating the Google Drive desktop client. Or at least thats when this other users files disappeared, after an update to the app took place when they left their laptop on overnight. This complaint on Reddit was made eight days ago, so the issue has apparently been hanging around for over a week now. We can keep our fingers crossed that Google is on the case and as mentioned manages to bring in a fix swiftly, but it sounds like something of a thorny one potentially. There are some folks who have apparently lost crucial business data here (at least for now) which is food for thought when it comes to your backup strategy . Youve got one of those, right? You should have at least two backups (along with the original data) really: one cloud backup , and one on a local drive (external hard disk for example), and it doesnt hurt to have multiples of each. The more redundancy, the better, frankly, so chucking particularly crucial files in a second cloud storage locker is never a bad idea. Oh, its also worth mentioning that cloud sync is not the same as a cloud backup (when syncing, files deleted from one place are removed from the other medium, too). You might also like This is the best free backup software around I tried to use Google Bard to help me with Wordle - but it didn't go well Here's how Google Drive is making it easier to find some lost files ====================================================================== Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/cloud-computing/some-google-drive-users-ar e-reporting-losing-six-months-of-files --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 (Linux/64) * Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100) .