Over the past few days, multiple Google Drive users have been raising complaints over losing hundreds of their data hosted on the file storage platform. A thread on the Google Drive support page indicates how dire this issue with users reporting months’ worth of data has disappeared.
Many users are reporting that the issue is reverting the Drive’s status to a previous period and subsequent data uploaded missing. For example, the original poster of the thread reports that the folder structure went back to the status in May 2023 and all data since then until the day of the post has disappeared. In addition, there is no Drive Activity available that can help explain any changes that led to the data loss.
A response by Google’s support team to one of the users has confirmed that this issue is affecting multiple users. Both personal and business accounts have been affected, according to user reports. Notably, most of the personal users are reporting that only data up to May 2023 is available. Google adds that the Project Engineers are investigating the root cause and working on a possible fix. However, no ETA has been provided on this.
Additionally, Google warns you mustn’t make any changes to your Drive’s root folder if you’re facing this issue.
Data loss prevention measures you can take
Losing work or personal data can be a distressing scenario, especially if there are no backups available. There are multiple ways in which you can lose data including malware attacks and corrupted hard drives. Similarly, there are measures you can take to protect against such. This includes performing regular backups of your important data. Additionally, amidst rising global cyberattacks, here are some ways you can best protect yourself.
