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chunc1's avatar
chunc1
Copper Contributor
Mar 24, 2024

One drive deleted files show in search bar but cant find them

Hi there,

 

So i think last year i accidentally deleted a pretty important folder of mine (studio 13) and i cant find it offline on my computer or on my one drive but ive noticed that its visible when i search for it on my one drive...... when i click on the pop ups as shown it just says its no longer accessible. Is there any way to access this through one drive support? 

 

 

I just found a folder in my recycling bin that has all my folders in it but when i restored it there were only like 50 files in the folders (which were corrupted images, but there should be thousands of files in the folders) .... Any clues on why the files weren't recovered with the folders?

 

files
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  • Mike Williams's avatar
    Mike Williams
    Steel Contributor
    Mar 24, 2024
    Files deleted from OneDrive only stay in its Recycle Bin for 30 days, so anything from last year is long gone. That's why cloud sync platforms are not proper backups.

    You can always try Microsoft OneDrive support (e.g. through the online web interface or phone app) but speed is always of the essence due to the time window for file retention.

    What you see on your loval Windows Recycle Bin are stubs of files on demand rather than the full files.
    It's pretty much impossible to know how or what you deleted i.e. were your files properly synced with OneDrive in the first place, were you deleting files normally only kept online or a mix of local files and on-demand files.