Google: Problem with missing Drive files lies with desktop app

A Google employee says that “a small portion of Drive desktop app users” are experiencing an issue that causes files to disappear. The employee suggests precautionary measures and says he is still investigating the problem.

Some users reported on Google’s help forum in recent weeks that they had lost months of Drive files. For example, someone wrote that all files uploaded since May this year were suddenly gone. The topic has been taken offline for an unknown reason, but can still be viewed via Web Archive.

The files are currently unrecoverable, even with the help of Google staff. There were dozens of responses under the message and about two hundred people indicated that they had ‘the same question’. A Google employee says they are investigating the issues and to provide additional updates in due course.

The issues are said to occur with the Drive desktop app, between versions 84.0.0.0 and 84.0.4.0. Users are advised not to press ‘Disconnect account’ within this desktop app. Users should also not delete or move the DriveFS folder and are advised to make a local copy of it. It is not clear how many users are affected by the problem and whether this problem occurs worldwide.