Key Takeaways
- Google Drive is a Cloud Storage Service that keeps a backup of all your files.
- You can restore the deleted Drive files if you suspect some vital file is missing.
- The data restoration depends on whether you have a backup of Google Drive or not!
The popular cloud storage service, Google Drive, is available to anyone with a Google account. Businesses and individuals have taken advantage of Google Drive’s amazing features to have a secure backup of all their essential files, including Google Docs, Google Photos, and much more. So, it is necessary to know how to recover deleted files from Google Drive in case you made an accidental deletion.
If you have made some accidental changes to any Google format file, you can restore it to a previous version to undo the changes. But here, we will discuss restoring the files deleted from the online file storage and Google Drive for Desktop. Both individual and business users will find this article helpful, with several methods helping them to get their files back.
How To Recover Deleted Files From Google Drive
Whether you have a backup of your Google Drive or not, the method you can use for Google Drive file recovery varies. Preferably, personal Google account users can use third-party applications to recover their lost data, as Google’s native features may not work for them. So, learn how to recover deleted files from Google Drive using several methods. For example, to have a copy of your WhatsApp data in case of accidental deletion, consider taking Whatsapp backup in Google Drive.
1. How to Recover Deleted Files from Google Drive Trash
A computer user knows that deleted files remain in the recycle bin for a 30-day time window, after which they get deleted permanently. Similarly, deleted files from Google Drive stay in the trash folder for a limited time of 30 days after removal. Therefore, you can quickly restore the files from there if you are within the 30-day period.
Let us see how to recover deleted files from Google Drive Trash.
Type “drive.google.com” in the address bar to open your Google drive. Click “Trash” in the left pane to open the Google Trash folder.
Check the entire Trash, select the files you want to restore, right-click them, and select “Restore” from the context menu.
The selected files in trash will now be restored and accessed from your Google Drive.
Note: A small window allows you to perform an undo operation when you delete a file from Google Drive. But it goes away in a few seconds, after which you must go to the trash folder to recover it.
2. How to Recover Deleted Drive Files On Android Device
The Android files from Google Drive can go missing due to various reasons. Recovering it is very similar to the previous method if you try to get it before 30 days. So, let us see how to recover deleted files from Google Drive Trash on your Android device.
Open Google Drive on your phone. Tap on the three horizontal lines in the upper left corner.
Select Google Drive Bin from the list.
Locate the file you want to restore and tap on the three dot icon on the right.
Select “Restore” so the file is restored to your drive.
3. Restore Deleted Files from Google Drive from the Admin Console
The Google Admin console is excellent for recovering all deleted files for Google Workspace account users. Your Google Workspace administrator can restore the files from user accounts if you try restoring them within the first 25 days of deletion from the trash folder. After that, you can follow three methods: restore files from a user’s account, the Shared Drive, and a deleted user’s account. So, let us see how to recover deleted files from Google Drive from the Admin console.
Option 1: Recover Files For A User Account
Open the Google Admin console and sign in with your username and password. In the console, go to Menu > Directory > Users. Locate the user whose files you want to restore.
Hover the mouse over the user’s name and click on the ellipsis icon on the extreme right. Next, select “Restore data” from the pop-up menu. In the next window, specify the date range for the data you want to recover. Then, in the drop-down menu under Application, select “Drive.”
Finally, click the Restore button. All the deleted files within the date range will now be restored in the same location as they existed.
Option 2: Recover Files From The Shared Drive
Open the Google Admin console. Go to Admin console Menu > Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs. Now, click “Manage shared drives.”
Next, point to the shared drive you want to restore and click the Restore icon at the right end of the file tab. Next, select a date range for the data to be recovered and click “Restore data.” The shared drive and its file will be restored now.
Option 3: Recover Files From A Deleted User Account
Open the Google Admin console and click “Users.” Next, click “+add filter” and select “Recently deleted.” Now, hover over the deleted account from which you want to recover data and click “Recover.”
Next, click “Continue,” select an organizational unit and then click “Recover.”
Now, go to the Admin console home page. Go to Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs > Transfer ownership. In the next window, enter deleted user’s email address in the “From field” and yours in the “To field.”
Finally, click “Transfer files” to move the recovered files to your Google Drive.
4. Using Google Takeout
Taking a backup of Google Drive using Google Takeout is a method adopted by many as an extra safety feature. The backup Google Drive process creates a local copy of your Google Drive as a zip file. If you have recently done a Takeout backup, you might be able to recover the deleted files from the backup files stored locally. Let’s check how to recover deleted files from Google Drive using Google Takeout.
Locate the Google Takeout backup folder on your computer. Right-click on the zip folder icon and select “Extract.” Find the required file from the extracted ones. You can then upload it to your Google Drive, making it available whenever necessary.
5. Using Google Vault
Google Workspace users have access to something called Google Vault, which is more of an archive feature that stores all your data for future retrieval. When you find a file is lost, you cannot just go to the service and get it back. But you will have to perform a search action and export it to gain access.
Let’s check how to recover deleted files from Google Drive using Google Vault.
Visit the Google Vault page and sign in with your admin credentials. Here, you will find a workspace called Matters to store your search queries and perform the export process.
At this point, select Matters and create a new one or choose the one that includes your file. Next, click “Search.” From the drop-down menu under Service, select “Drive.” Fill in the search conditions and click “Search.”
Remember that you can give more search parameters for advanced file searches.
When you have located the required file, click “Export” on the menu bar. You will get the download as a zip archive which can be extracted to access the deleted file.
Note: If you haven’t logged in and set up Google Vault before, you will not be able to recover files using this method.
6. Restore Deleted File from Google Drive With the Help of Customer Support
Once your Google Drive files are deleted from the trash folder, it becomes a difficult task to restore them, especially if there is no backup of these files. In that case, you can contact Google Drive customer support, and they can get the files back for you.
Let’s understand how to recover deleted files from Google Drive by contacting Google support.
Go to the Google Drive Help page. Then, scroll down and click the “Request file recovery” button.
You will be asked to sign in again.
Once you sign in, go to the bottom of the page, fill out a form with the necessary information, check the consent box, and click “Submit.”
Now, wait for the support team to process your request.
The customer support team can help recover the files only within a specific time frame after the deletion. And one of the below-mentioned conditions has to be satisfied – you created the files, uploaded the files to Google Drive, or you got file ownership of someone’s files.
7. Recover Files In Google Drive That Are Homeless
If you cannot find your files using the above methods, it is time to check if it has become orphaned file. A file would be an orphaned file if someone other than the file owner deleted it. As a result, it no longer belongs to its parent folder and will be challenging to find. So let’s learn how to recover deleted files from Google Drive that have become homeless.
Open your Google Drive and type the filename in the search box. It should appear in the search results, even if it doesn’t have a parent folder. You can now move it to the desired folder. You can also give search parameters to search for the file if you don’t remember the filename.
8. Using Third-Party Backup Tools
Try third-party tools if you are wondering how to recover deleted files from Google Drive, as no other method works. These file recovery tools also recover data for personal accounts, even if the account is deleted. In addition, third party software offers the convenience of recovering a single file or the whole drive, if necessary, using advanced search options. You will get the files back, plus the folder structure remains unaffected.
SysCloud is a popular option for Google Drive backup and recovery of individual files and folders. You can type the user’s email address in the search bar, and the app performs deep searches as part of the file recovery process.
This ensures you get your data back, even if it was long deleted. Furthermore, it supports cross-user restore, where the recovered data can be sent to another domain user.
Disk Drill is yet another data recovery software worth giving a try.
Final Thoughts
Cloud storage platforms like Google Drive are a boon to Google account users. Configuring the service can even auto-sync the files so that you always have a backup of your local files ready. But if you mistakenly deleted the wrong file from the Cloud backup service, knowing how to recover deleted files from Google Drive helps.
Several methods are outlined to help restore your deleted files, including the shared files, both when you have a backup and when you don’t. These let you get your data back even if you have crossed the 30-day trash limit.
