Google drive is the online cloud-based storage solution. It can store all the files, documents, photos, videos, and everything online in one place. No matter where you access your google account, you will find your stored files. Whether you use a smartphone, PC, desktop, or tablet, every device is accessible to Google Drive.
Usually, the items from Google Drive can never be deleted automatically. The items remain in the drive forever unless you manually delete the items permanently. However, if you want to restore your deleted files or folders, you can easily recover them.
What Is Google Drive Recovery
Google Drive is used all over the world for its storage and synchronization features. The company currently has approx 800 million users, storing not less than 2 trillion files on its server. The synchronization feature becomes a problem if you delete the file from google drive as it will do the same on all your devices. However, if the file is not deleted from the trash it can be easily recovered within 60 days.
Furthermore, if you lost your device and are trying to get all your data on your latest device, you can do that too by signing in on google drive. But the only catch here is that you should have a backup of all your data on your google account.
Ways To Recover Deleted Files From Trash
If you have recently deleted a file from your google drive, it will be present in the trash file of your drive. To recover files from trash follow these steps –
- Open Google drive on desktop or mobile and look for the trash icon on the left side.
- Find the file that you want to recover and right-click on it.
- You will get two options – Restore and Delete forever.
- Click on Restore to get your deleted file back in your drive.
This will only work if you are doing this within 30 days of the deletion of the file. If not within 30 days, the file and folders in the trash will automatically get permanently deleted. However, these permanently deleted files from the trash will not be able to be recovered immediately, until and unless you have the backup of those files or folders on your Gmail account.
How To Recover Permanently Deleted Files
There are various ways in which you can recover a file that is deleted permanently.
By Google Drive Customer Support
You can reach out to google support regarding your backup and recover your file using these steps –
- Click on this link to visit the page – https://support.google.com/drive/answer/1716222?hl=en&ref_topic=14951&authuser=1 and then click on “ Contact Us”.
- You will get a set of instructions on your screen which you need to follow to contact customer support via the form.
However, to avail of this service, you must satisfy the following conditions –
- The file is created by you.
- It is also being uploaded on Google Drive by you.
- If you haven’t created the file, you must have its own with you.
By Using G Suite Admin Console
G Suite Admin Console can be used used to recover files using the following steps –
- The file can be recovered from Trash if it is deleted within 25 days.
- And if you have permanently deleted the file from the drive you can follow one of the following steps
From Google Drive
- Log in on the Google Admin Console.
- Select “Users” on the console.
- Select the files you want to restore.
- Click on the “ Restore Data”.
- If you want to restore files from a specific time, enter that on the dialogue box and click restore.
From Team Drive
- Open Google Admin Console.
- Then click Drive and Docs in G Suite.
- Select Manage Team Drives.
- Look for the file you want to register and click on the restore icon.
- Click on the Restore Data.
Recovering From Deleted Google Drive
- Recover a deleted G Suite account.
- Now select the file and transfer the ownership to another G Suite user.
- Log in to Admin Console and select Apps.
- Select G Suite and open Drive and Docs.
- Transfer ownership and then click Transfer Files from “From” and “To”.
How To Recover Permanently Deleted Files From Google Using Backup
If you have a backup of files on google drive you can download a permanently deleted file very easily using one of the following methods.
- Using Google Takeout you can access all your deleted files.
- Google Vault can be used to recover permanently deleted files.
- Recovery of permanently deleted files can be done through some third-party backup tools too.
However, in order to use these methods, you need to timely backup all the files on the drive.
Each of the above methods can be used to recover permanently deleted files from Google drive. All you need to do is follow these steps and you will have your file back in no time.
