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Google Shares Temporary Solution to Avoid Random Data Deletion

Some Google Drive users randomly started losing their data over the past week despite being days away from the global deletion date. Google is yet to explain why this is happening and there is no permanent fix either, but at least the company has publicly acknowledged the issue.

Google has announced that it is aware of the problem and is currently looking into it. The search engine giant adds that the issue appears to be limited to the desktop app for Google Drive, meaning iOS and Android users may still be safe.

Google adds that this mysterious issue has only affected a limited number of users and has also shared a temporary solution to avoid getting your data deleted out of nowhere. Here is what the company suggested:

  • Do not click “Disconnect account” within Drive for desktop.
  • Do not delete or move the app data folder:
    • Windows: %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Google\DriveFS
    • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Google/DriveFS
  • Optional: If you have room on your hard drive, we recommend making a copy of the app data folder.

As mentioned earlier, Google is still investigating the issue, so there is no permanent solution as of yet. It is also unclear whether all the users who have lost their Drive data will be able to get it back, even once the root cause is identified. Nevertheless, Google says that it should have an update on the matter soon.

Losing precious data can be extremely frustrating, especially if you have years worth of backups saved. We recommend making a copy of the app data folder on a hard drive, as Google suggests, especially with all the uncertainty about Drive data.

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Published by
Aasil Ahmed