InSync deleted everything in my Google Drive (387GB)

Bugs and issues Linux
#1

I still don’t understand why, but InSync decided that my root Google Drive folder was empty and deleted all of my Google Drive files.

They were moved to Trash, so I technically could undelete them. Except that for 387GB of files, the interface doesn’t work. That forced me to use an AppScript script to undelete everything, but now the original folder structure is gone. So I have 387GB of files in one folder and absolutely no way to recover them.

InSync this was your one job and you have failed catastrophically. I regret ever using your software, let alone paying for it. I hope everyone else takes extreme precautions.

#2

Hi @growly,

We sincerely apologize for the huge trouble that you experienced. We would like to investigate what caused the massive deletion. Could you please send the follow files to support@insynchq.com:

  • logs.db
  • out.txt
  • data folder
  • live folder

These files can be found by following this guide. A few follow up questions:

  • Did you move any folders inside/outside the root of your Google Drive?
  • Did you experience a “Base folder is missing” error prior?
#3
  • I reinstalled Linux, preserving my home directory, which was on a separate partition to my root mount.
  • I installed and ran InSync under the new OS. I presume because InSync stores state in my home directory, my Google account and sync directory showed up again. At this point the “Base folder is missing” might’ve shown up, because I hadn’t recreated the base folder.
  • I wanted to force a fresh Sync from the cloud, so I deleted my Google account from InSync.
  • I re-added my Google account to InSync and recreated the base directory (the same as previously), and set it as the new base again. I expected this to sync everything in the cloud to my base folder, because I had re-added my account to start from scratch.
  • Instead, after perhaps a reboot, InSync deleted everything in my Google Drive root directory.
  • I did not move any folders inside/outside of my Google Drive during this time.
  • All of this behaviour was unexpected and, when it comes to personal data, terrifying.
  • I have sent the data you requested in 3 parts. Please cat them back together.
1 Like
#4

Thank you for the step-by-step. I understand completely how terrifying it is to lose your important files in the cloud after carefully setting up your account on Insync.

I have received your email containing the files for investigation. We will check what happened that led to the cloud deletions and get back to you once I have more info on the case.

#5

Hi @growly,

After checking the logs and the info you provided, it seems like the cloud deletions were caused by this step:

I re-added my Google account to InSync and recreated the base directory (the same as previously), and set it as the new base again. I expected this to sync everything in the cloud to my base folder, because I had re-added my account to start from scratch.

When an account is removed from Insync, the sync database is still retained in case it is added back again. What happened is that upon re-adding the account, Insync detected the now empty base folder, leading it to assume that its contents were deleted locally, hence triggering deletions in the cloud.

For reference, the expected behaviors for reinstallation/re-adding of accounts are found here. We see that there must be important improvements to avoid these kinds of incidents moving forward, and have forwarded these to our Product Team.

#6