Things Missing from OneDrive

Hey Everyone,

I have just noticed a lot of files missing in my OneDrive. I was looking through my files and all of the folders are there but, the files inside are missing. I logged into the web client and shows the same on that side as well. I checked the recycle bin and it is empty. It is not everything, just stuff that appears to be older than a year or two. What is weird is that the folder structure still exists but the files themselves are missing.

I know nothing can be done, probably but, I am more curious if anyone else has had this issue over the years with OneDrive? For me, this may be a deal breaker to continue to use the product.

Thanks for any thoughts and feedback.

If you have these missing files on any computer running OneDrive maybe you can sync and get these back. Probably you did that by mistake. A good alternative is Google Drive or the good old Dropbox.

spapakons said:

If you have these missing files on any computer running OneDrive maybe you can sync and get these back. Probably you did that by mistake. A good alternative is Google Drive or the good old Dropbox.

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Thanks for the reply. I am sure I might have done something but, the part I cannot figure out is how the folders structure which can be five or six levels deep in some areas remain but not the individual files that resided in those folders... Super weird.

It just makes me nervous because I lost files such as my military DD214, closing paperwork for my house and some license keys for very expensive pieces of software. I am assuming this actually happened some time ago. Luckily things like the DD214 and closing paperwork, I still have physical copies in folders.

I am considering going back to Google Drive, had been using that since 2009 and have never lost any files which I could not explain. Main reason I have been using OneDrive is while in college I started using M365 and for the price it is the most cost-effective storage out there. Though, now that I think about it, sometimes it is better to spend a little more for storage.

DMGrier said:

It just makes me nervous ... I am considering going back to Google Drive ... sometimes it is better to spend a little more for storage.

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It may be too late for some of your files, but have a more comprehensive backup system including local digital copies on connected and disconnected storage media, paper copies in a local filing cabinet, paper copies in a remote safety deposit box, etc.

The more important the file, the more copies it deserves.

Then you have to prune and manage your system so you can find your files

many years ago when I started with windows the disappearance of files was a common occurrence and software was developed to take advantage of the way that windows removes files from the file system. Only a file locator entry is removed and the actual file contents remain but are not accessible.

This type of recovery software still exists and some is in active development the following list is some free options which may be worth a try before looking at attempts to recreate new copies