Files from Google Drive have mysteriously disappeared

Users of the desktop app have been cautioned not to disconnect their account from Google Drive following reports of files disappearing.

Some users claimed to have lost six months’ worth of data when they suddenly started seeing their Google Drive files vanish last week, prompting Google to notify its community support site.

One user logged into Google Drive to find everything saved since May 2023 gone, despite Google’s support team’s efforts, according to The Register. In the complaint thread, 217 people clicked “I have the same question.”

Google is “investigating reports of an issue impacting a limited subset of Drive for desktop users.” Meanwhile:

• 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

If your hard drive has space, Google recommends copying the app data folder until the sync issue is resolved. If we learn more, we’ll update this article.