Google Drive Has A Difficult To Hit But Weird Restriction For All Free And Paying Users

Google seems to have discreetly enabled a seemingly weird restriction as of date. It forces free and paid users of Google Drive to delete a few existing files to be able to add new files even when ample space is available.

Google Drive is one of the most used online storage solutions with a generous space allocation for all users. Besides the 15GB limit for free users, Google has paid plans that offer more storage space. However, both free and paid users of Google Drive have recently observed a storage limitation.

Google Drive Has A New Limitation, And It's Not The Size, But the Number Of Files

Every Google account gets 15GB of storage space which holds all the emails in Gmail and the files added to Google Drive. This is sufficient for most users who do not rely heavily on cloud-based storage.

Google also offers more storage space for a few hundred rupees a month. Hence, when customers pay for additional storage, it's been understood that they can store as many files as they want, so long as they don't hit their data cap. But that's not the case anymore.

Google has enabled a new restriction as of February this year. The company has asked users to delete files from their Drive account if its count is more than 5 million.

Most Google Drive users don't have, or may not even want to, store more than 5 million files in the cloud. Hence, most won't be greeted with the dreaded "Upload Failed" error message when they create a new folder or perform any creation-related action on Drive.

Google Cites "Security" As Reason For Implementation Of New Limit

A few users who managed to hit the 5 million file ceiling have complained to Google, but the company's representatives have informed them that the limit will not be changed.

A Google spokesperson clarified that the limit is an intended function of Drive, not a bug. The representative clarified that the cap was not on the number of files a user has on their Drive but on the "items one user can create in any Drive."

Google claims it is a preventative measure against the potential "misuse of our system in a way that might impact the stability and safety of the system." The spokesperson added that this restriction would only affect a "vanishingly small" number of users.

Perhaps the reason for user concern is that there seems to be no mention of this limit in the official documentation. Those affected by Google's rollouts are confused as they encounter such hurdles or errors without reference material.