Google had quietly put a limit on the number of files stored on Drive, preventing some users from using all the space they paid for. Faced with dissatisfaction, the firm decided to backtrack.
Backtracking and back to square one for Google Drive! Faced with the grumbling of users, the Internet giant has just canceled its very curious decision to set a limit on the number of files kept on its online storage service. A decline that comes just after having “formalized in a tweet this measure put in place very discreetly, without warning or explanation, arguing that he had “recently implemented a system update regarding Drive item limits to maintain stability and optimize performance” . Today, the Mountain View firm changes its tune by purely and simply canceling this limitation, explaining that “although this only affected a small number of people, we are reverting this change as we explore other approaches to ensure a good experience for all”. A wise decision given that this limit could have led some users to cancel their subscription or opt for a lower storage space.
Google Drive: 5 million files maximum
Since February, some Google Drive users had had the unpleasant surprise of receiving error messages when they tried to add new files to their storage space indicating that “The limit on the number of items, deleted or not, created by this account has been exceeded.” In March, the service indicated to them this time a “403 error” because their account “exceeded the creation limit of 5 million items”enjoining them move items to the trash and permanently delete them so you can create new ones. A message all the more surprising since it also concerned users who had paid for more storage space – sometimes several TB – including with Google One and Workspace. As the Redmond company had made no communication on this subject, they had logically believed in a bug and therefore reported the various error messages to it. Well no, it was not a bug, but a new limit added by the Web giant, which had decided to present its users with a fait accompli.
Normally, the only limit Google Drive imposes is on storage size and a limit of 400,000 files, folders, and shortcuts in a shared drive. It was therefore a real surprise to be constrained to a maximum of 5 million elements! Contacted by Ars Technicathe company’s spokesperson had confirmed the news, assuring that it was a “protective measure to prevent any misuse of our system that may impact the stability and security of the service”. He specified that this limit applied to the “number of items a user can create in any player” not the total cap for all files on a single drive. Finally, “This limit does not affect the ability of the vast majority of our users to use their Google storage space. In practice, the number of users affected is extremely small”.
This new limit did not really please users and quickly became a problem, especially for those who subscribed to 30TB of storage, or even unlimited space, because it prevented them from creating a multitude of small files that did not weigh very heavy . Professional users in particular could quickly find themselves cramped, because 5 million files weighing 4 KB only require 20 GB of storage. Still, Google should have communicated on the subject instead of doing it on the sly… Let’s hope this serves as a lesson!