What Happened:

I was using Obsidian for only one vault but recently I started using another vault. After 2 weeks, I went back to my first vault and found out that about 1 to 2 weeks of data from the vault was vanished.

What was removed:

Links and notes were removed from the vault that I wrote about 1 to 2 weeks since I left the vault dormant.

Additional Information:

I was using Calendar Plugin in the vault. I am not using any other plugins. I am also using google drive for syncing my vault.

Why I posted this:

I know it might be because of something with the plugin or sync. But it will be really helpful if someone could guide me how to get my data back. I really need those notes!

Check versions in your online Google Drive.
There should be one with the data, but be aware that it deletes old versions more than 30 days old unless you have specifically marked the file to keep all versions.

Does this thread help? Unfortunately I don’t have a good solution to your problem.

They suggest that Google Drive is the likely culprit. You could try:

  • Recovering your notes from the Google Drive trash or history
  • Alternative syncing methods (other than Drive)

I tried, but there is no note history of the vanished notes. it’s like the never existed. it’s very confusing.
I should try another syncing solution as @schemar suggested.

Wait, IF I open Google sync after sometime, will it override the files or something like that?

The online file should have all versions saved in the last 30 days. Should be able to right click and go to manage versions.

If there’s nothing there then the sync isn’t working if there were file changes within those 30 days.

I’d advise doing a quick test with your new vault to see what is actually there online.

If a file is empty locally, then sync ought save that to the cloud when it’s a change.

It’s very odd that they don’t appear at all in Gdrive. Something is going on.

Does this help?

https://support.google.com/drive/answer/2375102?co=GENIE.Platform%3DAndroid&hl=en#zippy=%2Cyou-cant-find-something-you-dont-think-you-deleted-it

The new vault is not synced to the drive, if you are asking about that.

But I have put the new vault in totally different location.
The Activity panel is not showing any latest change I made to the vault.

No, No files were deleted in the GDrive, so trash is empty. The sync was not doing it’s job for some reason. It didn’t even catch the changes( I think ). But how did the local files got manipulated? I don’t know about that.

In your vault that is currently on google drive, can you test if you create a new file if it gets recognised and uploaded on gdrive?

Yes it is now recognizing the new files. Could you suggest an alternative. I don’t want this to happen again even if it is fixed for now. As Obsidian is not officially supporting the Plugins till v1.0. One more thing, will Github be suitable for this?

I don’t think this is a plugins problem. I am very baffled that there is no history at all in Gdrive for these files.

If you keep gdrive off, create a new file, and then turn on grive what happens?

Are these files in gdrive you own or are these files in shared google drive ?

I own the Account.
About your Question. Yes it takes some time but eventually it detects the notes and syncs now.

And I am convinced that something out of the ordinary happened ( with plugin or sync ). you see:


The side panel doesn’t have the core plugins enabled, my hotkeys are set to default and workspaces are not there.

I don’t use Google Sync because I dislike it, so my ability to comment is limited, but I wouldn’t expect it to produce problems like these.

I use Dropbox for my Obsidian vaults. I will copy that to another online drive, sometimes GDrive, every 28 days to give me extra online backups. I also have other local backups on different disks. Belt and multiple braces for all active files.

I will try doing something similar.

For what it’s worth, I’ve been using Google Drive Backup & Sync for over a year across 5 devices with no data loss of any kind, including Obsidian.

Well! I hope it never happens. I myself have started using GitHub.

We will add an internal file recovery system in an upcoming release to mitigate data loss issues due to faulty plugins or external causes.

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I feel your pain. Here is the solution I’ve adopted, alluded to by some others above. Sounds like GitHub was also your solution. Just to say, it was mine too!

  1. Move the vault out of Google Drive. Namely to one not being sync’d.
  2. Obsidian Git plugin + a private GitHub repository. It’s so easy! Auto-commits and pushes to the cloud. But this really just provides a back-up. I can’t yet verify 100% that I won’t have the same hiccup as before… but as long as my eye is on the status bar git status, I feel safer.
  3. Probably unnecessary use of Command+S for extra saves + peaking to make sure GitHub and my local files are actually being updated…

It’s a trust building process at this point.

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Yes! I have myself adopted Github for savekeeping! Thanks You. I just hope that the saving system In the new release is the solution for this! Fingers Crossed.

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