Meta: There are different ways to recover accidentally deleted Google Drive data and these are simple to practice across your devices.
Google Drive is literally one of the best cloud storage solutions used by most mobile device owners – mostly Android users. That’s because it is readily available, free to download, and has an intuitive interface that anyone can easily understand. The cloud storage platform is mostly used for data backup – to protect relevant files over the cloud.
Yes, Google Drive is safe to use, but you can accidentally lose the files you save there. When that happens, you need to find a way to get back the files, which is possible using a drive recovery software like SpinBackup. Going forward in this article, you’d understand in detail how to recover accidentally deleted Google Drive data.
Is Google Drive Backup Important?
The importance of data backup cannot be overemphasized in today’s world, and one of the best mediums to back up files to, is the cloud. When you back up to the cloud, you can access the file/data from any device, literally.
Google Drive is a cloud storage platform launched and owned by the American tech giant, Google, which is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. The platform allows users to import any type of file and save it on the cloud. It is available across platforms – Windows OS, macOS, Android, and iOS – and also accessible via the web using a web browser.
When you upload a file to Google Drive, you can access the file from any of your devices, and if the file gets deleted from Google Drive, it gets deleted across your devices where the cloud storage service is activated. Yes, Google Drive is completely safe to use, you don’t need to worry about your privacy.
How to Easily Recover Accidentally Deleted Google Drive Data
It is not common to delete files mistakenly from Google Drive, but if you find out that you have accidentally deleted the wrong files/data from your G.Drive storage, there are actually a few workable ways to get them back.
1. Recover from the “Trash” Folder
If you recently deleted the file, definitely, it’d still be in the “Trash” folder. Files deleted from Google Drive remain in the trash folder for up to thirty days before they get completely erased from the storage to save space. The trash folder is easily accessible from any device you’re using to access Google Drive.
Steps:
- Open Google Drive on your mobile device or PC.
- Go to the trash folder (if you’re on PC, simply visit: https://drive.google.com/drive/trash)
- Look out for the deleted file, when you see it, click on the three dots on the right end of the filename and select “Restore.”
- If you’re on mobile, tap on the “more” icon and select restore. This will send the file back to where it was on your Google Drive storage.
2. Use G-Suite Admin Account
Another way to recover files from Google Drive is to use a G-Suite administrator account. If you’re a Google G-Suite user with admin access, you can get back even permanently deleted files following a procedure. But this method only works for paid users who use Google Suite for business purposes.
Steps:
- Log in to the Admin dashboard and click on “Users.”
- Select the username of the account whose files need to be recovered – click on the three dots at the right end and select “Restore Data.”
- You’d be required to enter a date range, ensure to enter the desired date range, and the deleted files (within that date range) will be recovered for the user.
If you’re not an admin on the G-Suite, you have to contact the user with admin access and have him/her attempt to recover your files. Also, this method is effective when the lost file(s) have not exceeded 25 days in “Trash.”
3. Recover from Your Local Storage
Seeking a solution for Google Drive permanently deleted files recovery? This is practically the best to try out. If you typically save your files on a local drive and then copy them to Google Drive, when the files get accidentally deleted from G.Drive permanently, you can fall back to the copy on your local storage. This is practically the safest and easiest way to recover permanently deleted Google Drive files.
Steps:
- Open your local storage
- Go to the folder where you saved a local copy of the deleted file(s)
- If the files are still there, re-upload them to Google Drive
- That’s it.
4. Use SpinOne (If Activated Earlier)
SpinOne is a Google Drive backup solution that allows you backup files that are already uploaded to your G.Drive account. This solution backups up both files that are owned by you and those that are not. So, in the case of the file(s) getting deleted from Google Drive, you can reaccess them from SpinOne.
But, if you haven’t previously granted SpinOne access to your Google Drive account, you can use it for Google Drive disaster recovery. The tool only works if you had activated it earlier before the data loss event. Well, you can still activate SpinOne today to back up your Google Drive for future purposes.
5. Contact Google Drive Support
If none of these tips shared above worked for you: you can’t find the lost files in the Trash folder, you couldn’t recover them from the G-Suite admin dashboard, you didn’t activate SpinOne earlier, and the files are not on your local storage, then you should try reaching out a Drive Specialist or put a call through to Google.
Summary
These are the different possible ways to attempt Google Drive data recovery and get back your files that were saved on the cloud platform. But sometimes, maybe the files weren’t deleted actually, you just can’t find them and so you thought they have been deleted. If you’re in doubt about whether your saved files got deleted or not, here’s how to run Advance Search on Google Drive to find any file you’re looking for:
- Open drive.google.com on a computer
- Click on the search bar and further click on the icon to the far right.
- Select the advanced search options to find your file. You can filter the results to streamline the files shown to you.