Member Avatar for Verlaine

If google drive is in the clood, why I have a different reading in google drive in my PC and the one in my laptop?

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Short answer for (and building on ’s point): the cloud copy of a file lives at drive.google.com, but each computer can show a different local view depending on which Google account is signed in, which sync client/mode is running, and whether the file is stored as a computer backup or in “My Drive.” First check the web version of Drive and the Bin/Trash there — that gives the canonical state and the fastest way to restore a deleted item. ()

Why the PC still showed the file: Drive can show files under My Drive (the cloud) and under Other/Computers (local backups from a particular machine). If the PC’s copy was created as a computer backup it may remain even when a separate device deleted a copy in My Drive; also streaming vs. mirroring changes whether a file is a local copy or just a placeholder. Inspect the Drive for desktop preferences to see which mode is active. ()

Context about older clients: in 2019–2021 Google offered Backup & Sync (and Drive File Stream), and there was a “removing items” behavior users could configure; Google later unified those clients into Drive for desktop (stream/mirror modes), so behavior and settings changed. That historical difference often explains why deletes didn’t behave identically on two machines. (siliconangle.com)

Action checklist (quick, practical):

  • Confirm both machines are signed into the same Google account and view the file on drive.google.com; check Bin/Trash and restore if present.
  • Open the Drive icon on each computer → Preferences to see whether the file lives in My Drive, in Computers, and whether you’re streaming or mirroring. Pause sync before deleting if unsure.
  • Keep a separate backup for important files; if this is a Workspace (G Suite) account and a file was permanently removed, an admin may be able to restore it within the admin recovery window. ()

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Member Avatar for rproffitt

Please detail what is different. We know that Windows and it's "Windows File Explorer" is unreliable when showing content so please don't use that. Get to the command prompt and use the decades old DIR /A to show them all (Pokemon?)

It's possible that it's WFE (again) or it didn't sync. Read ideas about sync at https://www.google.com/search?q=why+doesn%27t+google+drive+sync

You need to share what's different. Otherwise I guess and I'm a terrible guesser.

Member Avatar for Verlaine

Thanks. I deleted the doc "asi mera keya greek" from my laptop google drive. The document was not deleted from my PC google drive . Do Y have to syncronize the two google drive ? In my laptop THUNDERBIRD when I delete an email, it is deleted too on my THUNDERBIRD PC.

Member Avatar for rproffitt

In short Thunderbird email and Google drive differ in operation. Google Drive RIGHTLY tries to avoid data loss so I can't guess how you deleted that document. It's really easy to delete it in Google drive and from memory when it syncs may delete on devices.

In my view this is good design. Make it so it's harder to accidentally lose data.

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