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Google Drive Users Face Data Loss: What You Can Do to Protect Your Files

Google Drive Users Face Data Loss: What You Can Do to Protect Your Files

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In recent times, a significant concern has emerged among Google Drive users: the sudden loss of data from their cloud storage accounts. This issue has led to both user frustration and critical examination of cloud storage reliability. This article examines the incident in depth, exploring the extent of the problem, Google’s response, and the broader implications for cloud storage users.

Understanding the Scope of Data Loss

Google Drive, a widely used cloud storage service, is facing an unusual issue where users are reporting recent files disappearing. The scale of this data loss varies, with some users losing months of stored data.

User Experiences and Reports

Various users have taken to forums and Google’s support pages to report their experiences. These accounts range from minor data loss to significant deletions, affecting both personal and business data.

Timeline of the Data Loss Event

The issue first surfaced about a week ago and since then, the number of reported cases has steadily increased, indicating a growing problem.

Technical Analysis of the Problem

Although the exact cause is still under investigation, there are several theories about technical glitches that could have caused this data loss.

Role of Cloud Storage in Data Security

Cloud storage services like Google Drive are generally considered secure and reliable. However, this incident raises questions about the infallibility of these services.

Potential Vulnerabilities in Cloud Storage

This situation highlights potential vulnerabilities in cloud storage systems, including software bugs, server issues, or cybersecurity threats.

Google's Response to the Situation

Google Drive Users Face Data Loss: What You Can Do to Protect Your Files

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Google has acknowledged the issue and is working on a solution to resolve the issue as soon as possible. However, the company has advised users to avoid troubleshooting or making changes to their accounts during this period.

Official Statements from Google

Google’s official communication focuses on reassuring users that they are working to resolve the issue and recover lost data.

Google's Recommended Actions for Users

The company has recommended specific steps for users to follow, emphasizing caution and patience while working toward a solution.

The Broader Implications for Cloud Storage Users

This incident has wide-ranging implications for the reliability and security of cloud storage services.

Lessons for Cloud Storage Providers

Other cloud service providers can learn from this situation to enhance their data security measures and emergency response protocols.

Future Safeguards for Data Protection

Looking ahead, this incident may lead to the development of more robust security measures and backup solutions in cloud storage services.

Also Read: Google Alum’s AI Startup Raises $24 Million for Biotech Work

User Strategies for Data Protection

Users are advised to maintain local backups of important data and stay informed about best practices for data security.

Conclusion

The data loss issue with Google Drive serves as an important reminder of the complexities and challenges in managing cloud storage services. As Google works toward a solution, users and providers should consider the lessons learned to ensure the security and reliability of cloud storage in the future.

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Google Drive now caps the number of files you can create

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As previously disclosed by Ars Technica and CNET, Google has put a restriction on the number of files you can upload and save to Google Drive. Even though you paid for more storage, the firm announced to The Verge that the update enabled users to generate a total of 5 million items in Drive. Google, however, quickly undid the adjustment and promised to come up with an alternative.

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“We recently rolled out a system update to Drive item limits to preserve stability and optimize performance,” said Google in a tweet. “While this impacted only a small number of people, we are rolling back this change as we explore alternate approaches to ensure a great experience for all.”

Source: theverge.com

Also Read: UBS to cut up to 30% of the global workforce

There was a 5 million file limit, but it only related to the number of files you could create in Drive, not to the total number of files that could be shared with your Drive. In other words, if the files weren’t all your creation, you might have had more than 5 million of them in the system.

Ross Richendrfer, a Google representative, first claimed that the modification was made to ensure high performance and dependability and that it would assist stop misuse of the company’s systems. Richendrfer stated that if you exceed the limit, you will be notified and can approach Google customer support to resolve the situation.

While it would seem ludicrous for a single person to upload 5 million files, some people have exceeded that figure. A customer with 7 million documents in Drive claims, in a Reddit post seen by Ars Technica and CNET, that Google abruptly stopped allowing them to add new files in February, even though they had not yet reached the 2TB storage limit they had paid for.

Several additional users claim to have experienced the file restriction at approximately the same time and that they originally thought it to be a bug on Google’s problem tracker website.

An individual with 2TB of capacity and an aggregate file size of over 400KB would exceed their file cap before when they went out of storage space, as was noted in the Reddit thread. Secondly, unless they choose to reduce their documents into zip folders, some customers may be spending even more space than they utilize.

Also Read: Netflix Might Be Putting Its Video Games on TVs

User responses suggest that Google may not have informed those who would be affected by the new restriction ahead of its deployment, leaving them scrambling to transfer or reduce files once the policy took effect.

While it does indicate that shared Workspace folders can store a total of 400,000 files, it doesn’t appear that Google changed its Google One or Workspace help sites to notice the limit. Google could have at least provided those who do with a proper warning, even if the bulk of users probably don’t have 5 million data held in Drive.

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Security Changes in Google will Disrupt Old Links of Drive and YouTube.

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Public links to an untold number of Google Drive items will soon cease to work. Google is changing the ways in which link sharing is handled on both services in the name of increased security, and even if active users are allowed to choose from the switch, abandoned files and videos on unused or inactive accounts can simply go unnoticed.

Security Changes in YouTube Links

Because shared links are now part of a newer system, Google says security is increased. The newer links on YouTube would appear to be harder to guess or access for anyone without explicit access. The newer links also have the effect of connecting more activity to specific accounts and requiring viewers to connect to a user profile that allows access to be tracked and included.

On YouTube, any publicly available videos, but labeled “Unlisted,” will have an effect. As described in a 5-minute video and blog post by YouTube, any unlisted videos uploaded before 2017 will be changed to a private one on July 23, 2017. The way private video works now, killing any old links or embedding, as well as limiting sharing to up to 50 people — all of whom require a Google account to view it. As a reminder, you and the people you choose can only view private videos. Once these videos are made privately on July 23rd, any previously used link will no longer function as Unlisted.

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To retain your unlisted videos in their unlisted state, you should fill out this form by 23 July 2021 before 2017. YouTube recommends that you choose to avoid this amendment when you treat your unlisted videos such as public videos (for example, they are embedded or shared on third-party websites). If you opt-out, your current connections will continue to work as they currently do, but they will not benefit from the security update.

Using YouTube, you can make your Unlisted video uploaded before 2017 as “Public.” The older videos can be re-uploaded under the new system to take advantage of the security update. Data, like views or comments, related to the original upload, will not be transmitted. Each video that is embedded using the old link must also be updated to the new video URL.

As a reminder, the Unlisted feature will not be removed. It is still possible to upload new videos as Unlisted. Only videos uploaded prior to January 1, 2017, will be affected by this update. YouTube creators can go back through their older Unlisted videos and select the privacy setting that is best for them.

Security Changes in Google Drive Links

The same change is happening for Google Drive, as announced on the Workspace Updates blog earlier today. Now a link will contain a resource key that determines who accesses or does not receive access to cloud-stored files. You’ll continue to have access to the file if you’ve already accessed it (presumably when you log into your Google account) and have “direct access.”

It is a little more complicated if you use a workspace Google account managed by your employer, school, or other company. The IT/administrator department can decide either to opt-out completely, to update anyone without an opt-out, or to upgrade and enable individual users to remove the update.

Administrators can use the Alert Center to see how much your organization affects users, folders, shared drives, and files. Search a warning with the topic “Drive security update.” Admins should decide how their organization will be asked to update their security before 23 July 2021. Admins can choose how their organization uses the security update at Admin Console Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs > Sharing settings > Security update for links.

If the administrator does not choose to update the security, end-users with impacted files, starting July 26, 2021, with their impacted files, will receive an e-mail notification. End-users have to decide how to update their files by September 13, if their administration permits it.

Users not included in Google Workspace receive a notification on their affected files from Google Drive from July 26, 2021, and are able to remove the security update. The new files are subject to the above-mentioned conditions. These users are expected to decide how to apply the update to their files until September 13, 2021.

Issues with type=domain or type=anyone Drive API permission that are affected by Link=true(v2) or allowFileDiscovery = false(v3) In addition to the item ID, a resource key for accessing these items is now required.

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Google all Set to Lose Legend-ary Voiced Assistant

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Google is one of the world’s most recognized brands and is a tech-superstar due to its huge presence. We have all been helped by the search engine at some point in time in our lives. It answers everything from simple questions regarding words, to sports updates when we are stuck at work. Slowly, yet surely, the tech-giant has branched out into other ventures. With several highly successful applications like Google Maps, Google Keep and even their cloud-storage service Google Drive, the company has become an integral part of our lives. One major part of Google’s services is their voice assistant which helps us do tasks without actually touching the phone. We can use this assistant to run searches, open the camera or even call someone without lifting a finger. Since voice search is touted to be the next big thing in the years to come, Google has never spared any expense when it comes to developing its search interface.

Wonderful Marketing Strategy Behind Google Assistant

One seemingly brilliant way it has made the assistant more relatable and approachable is by replacing the usually robotic and monotonic voice, with the voice of someone we appreciate and love. Fans went crazy last year when Google announced that the new update would have the assistant upgrade to All of Me fame John Legend’s voice. However, the collaboration seems to have ended because the tech giant announced that the voice would be removed from March 23rd onwards. Here’s a look at how the unusual pairing came to be.

Unlikely Pairing

In case you got used to having John Legend pick up your chores and assist you in your everyday life, you might have to brace yourself for the news. The celebrity cameo will come to a stop on March 23rd, after almost a year of great service. News regarding John’s voice being added to the Assistant’s settings had come out last April, much to the delight of Google users around the world. Most people do not identify with or particularly like the robotic voice that is associated with voice assistants. John Legend, therefore, came as a whiff of fresh air to most users, but, unfortunately, the unlikely, yet successful pairing is coming to a close. But to be fair, Google had mentioned at the time of release that this would be a limited feature, though they had not specified the duration of the tenure.

The addition of Legend’s voice brought a lot of joy to the ears of users around the world, because it brought with it several Easter eggs, very specific to his personality. For instance, you could get a personalized Happy Birthday song, sung by Legend himself if you asked him to do so. Similarly, fans were greeted to a part of All of Me, anytime they mentioned or asked about Chrissy Teigen, who is his supermodel wife. However, it is not all bad news for users, since Google still offers comedian Issa Rae’s voice. But it would be best not to get used to her witty one-liners or sarcastic remarks because you never know when Google will take her off the list.

Special Surprises

While Google Assistant has featured celebrity voices for quite some time now, users might want to make the best of them while they still can. John Legend, however, will always be remembered for being the first celebrity to lend his voice virtually to a plethora of devices all around the world. The singer’s smooth voice, which is sinfully filled with emotion and grit was a huge hit with fans all across the United States.

Google announced the removal via a tweet that urged users to use Legend to the maximum in the time they have left and encouraged them to request more serenades from the crooner. However, though you might miss the Legend-ary voice, rest assured because the Assistant will continue to function the way it used to. The only problem being that you won’t be able to belt All of Me along with the singer himself without accessing YouTube. Also, let us hope that owing to the success of this new endeavor, Google keeps surprising us with new celebrity voices in the future.

Google Drive and Google Photos Will No Longer Sync Together

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Although Google Photos and Google Drive work independently, many of the people use both to store their images and videos by syncing them with each other. This way, the data is kept safe and can be accessed easily. But, based on a few feedbacks from the users, now Google is going to make some changes on how the two platforms will share the content with each other.

Google drive and google photos
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According to a blog post, Google has got many feedbacks regarding the confusion the relation between the two platform cause among the users, and now, it will make some changes to both, in order to ‘simplify’ things.

“We’ve heard feedback that the connection between these services is confusing, so next month, we’re making some changes to simplify the experience across Google Drive and Google Photos,” stated Google in the blog post.

Usually, the pictures and the videos uploaded over either the platforms get synced to both the platforms and gets stored on it. But now after the changes, if the pictures/videos are uploaded to Photos, these won’t get stored to the Drive, automatically, and the same will happen if done other way around. Also, if a picture is deleted from Google Photos, it won’t affect the same picture in the Drive and vice-versa. This way, the pictures/videos will be safe from any accidental deletion.

Now with another new feature, named Upload From Google Drive, the users will have better control over the two platforms. Since the automatic syncing is already out of option, the users will be able to select the pictures and videos they want to import to Photos from Drive. Even though the images and the videos are imported from the Drive, these are not related to each other. And yes, the same image in both platforms will occupy space separately and will be counted in the storage quota. The users will still be able to upload items to both the platforms with the Backup and Sync option, altogether.

According to the company, the changes will take place starting from 10 July. The images and the videos that are already in both the platforms will remain as it is, even after the changes.

Google One Launched : Replacing Google Drive?

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Google One
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In May 2018, Google had announced its new cloud storage product Google One and had been working on it for past few months. Finally, it has launched Google One, on the 15 August of this year. The ones, who have already used Google Drive, might know that Google provides you with 15 GB of free storage on Google Drive and after 15 GB, you have to pay for more storage.

Google One is similar to Google Drive and is a paid cloud storage provided for the users all over the world. No! It is not replacing Google Drive, but, Google Drive will be upgraded to Google One after its 15 GB free plan with some added perks for its Consumer.

1) Increased Data Storage: Google has been working on its newly launched Google One for a quite some time now and, has already been updating the Google Drive’s paid user’s subscriptions for the last few months. Google has come with many subscription plans, according to the user’s requirements and, that too at a good price.

The monthly plan of Google One starts with 100 GB of storage for $1.99, followed by 200 GB tier for $2.99, a 2 TB option for $9.99 and the plan ends at 30 TB of storage that will cost $299.99. Interestingly, Google has reduced the price of 2 TB storage by $10, i.e. $9.99 that was the previous price of 1 TB storage. The consumers can subscribe to any of the plans according to their need. Also, the subscription can be shared with five of the family members without paying any extra money and equal storage for all of them.

2) Customer Support: This time Google has also come with a one-tap help button, that is for the live-customer support. Meaning that the Google users can connect with the real experts, for their queries related to any Google product, instead of any AI chatbots. The customer-support will be available 24/7 and, you can contact them via a phone call or through an e-mail.

Right now, Google One is only available in the US. But, it will soon be rolling out for the consumers across other countries too. Also, the G-Suite users with the business account will get no additional benefits and their plans will remain as it is.

Google has come with some other perks for its subscribers and, will offer credits on their purchase on Google Play and Google Express. Also, if the user will search and book the Hotels through Google maps, they can earn good deals on the bookings.

So, now you can share more data like high-resolution pictures, 4K videos, documents with your family and friends with any of the above-mentioned subscription plans. And, if you are not a US citizen, you have to wait for sometime. Google is also working on launching an app for the users, to help them choose for their easy subscription to the different plans. So, hopefully, the app and Google One will be launched together in the other countries soon.