Google has admitted to a technical error that caused some users’ files to be accidentally and permanently deleted from Google Drive and Google Photos.

The issue happened during server maintenance and affected an unknown number of users. According to a report from Forbes, users began reporting missing files earlier this month, including documents, backups, photos, and videos. Google has since confirmed the problem and is advising anyone who suspects missing data to check their accounts immediately.

“If you’ve lost data, contact Google Support as soon as possible,” the company advised. However, Google also confirmed that in some cases, the deleted files cannot be recovered.

For users affected, the best chance of restoring files may be through personal backups, but even these may not be sufficient. Google says that encrypted backups may be the best hope for recovery.

This incident should be a wakeup call to users that if data is important to them, they need to keep offline or third-party backups of critical data. While issues like this rare, we cannot blindly rely on cloud services.

Google says it’s investigating the root cause and plans to introduce safeguards to prevent this from happening again. In the meantime, users are encouraged to monitor their accounts and report any issues through official support channels. To anyone who has tried to reach a person for support at Google – good luck with that one.