OneDrive Files Disappeared

Me too. On Friday, June 26, around 5pm I was adding and deleting files on OneDrive. Suddenly, operation became a bit strange, as if the program were in a loop. About an hour after that my 350GB of archival storage dropped to 50GB ! All my OneDrive folder names were still there, but the content was missing (they were marked as "cloud only" storage in order to save space on my PC).

Of course, this was a monumental disaster for me. So I sent in an email to OneDrive support, and immediately received an automated reply that they were working on it, and I'd definitely get a reply within 24 hours. Didn't happen. So I sent in another problem report and got the same automated confirmation. Still no reply. Same thing Sunday. Same thing today, Monday. That's a total of 4 issued report numbers, and still nobody has gotten back to me. Today, Monday, I made about 4 calls all around Microsoft for help. All agents were very nice, but no one could really help, saying that the only way to contact OneDrive support was via email, which isn't working. Apparently OneDrive support has no backup customer communication plan.

Yes, I tried the recycle bin, but it was useless. First of all, it doesn't make sense to look there if I didn't delete the files in the first place. Second, when I did try it, it kept showing me hundreds/thousands of old emails that I had backed up. I had my finger on  the scrolling key for about 40 minutes, and then, whoops, I got a message that the web page display failed! It's then that I gave up on the recycle bin, as I wasn't going to burn up another 40 minutes scrolling, looking for something that probably wasn't there.

So, I need to speak with a real, live, human being in OneDrive tech support to understand what happened, e.g., why those files disappeared, and how to get them back. Promises of "we'll definitely get back to you within 24 hours" don't help.

I also had files (an entire folder with subfolders and probably over 100 files) MYSTERIOUSLY DISAPPEAR over the weekend - all important work files!!  And no, no one else has access to my devices.  They're NOT on my work computer.  NOT online.  NOT in the recycle bin.  NOT even in the previous version history!  What's worse, I turned off my internet on my second computer (laptop) to see if I could copy and paste the files onto my hard drive, and it won't even let me do that!!  Once I turn internet back on, those files will disappear too bc it will think the empty online files are the latest!  I can't even use those files OR my laptop.  This is horrendous and unacceptable.  What solution do you actually have, Microsoft??  This is 100% atrocious enough for me to never use OneDrive again, and I've used it for years.

The fact that all my HARD-WORKED files are absolutely GONE within 3 days of the HOURS I spent sorting and uploading means I would never try to Restore my files. They would likely disappear again.

I don't understand the problems Microsoft has with user-friendliness...across the board with anything beyond docs. I loved the ease of use in uploading to OneDrive, and it was so, ALL, for Naught

Hi Noel,

If lots of your OneDrive files get deleted, overwritten, corrupted, or infected by malware, you can restore your entire OneDrive to a previous time. Files Restore helps Office 365 subscribers undo all the actions that occurred on both files and folders within the last 30 days. For your reference: Restore your OneDrive.

However, please notice:

1. This action restores the entire OneDrive but not only the affected folder. In case of any data loss, you need to back up other files in OneDrive to another safe location. If you still have a concern about this point, I have shared with you a private message for another suggestion. You can check there via this link.

2. If the files had been corrupted before you moved them to OneDrive, this action can’t help you.

Thanks,

Neo

Hi Helge,

Sorry for what happened to you.

Since the issue you encountered may have different root cause as Noel’s scenario, I’d like to suggest you post a new thread in our Forum with the detailed information about the issue to get a dedicated support. Thanks for your understanding.

Regards,

Neo

me too :(