my onedrive data has been deleted

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my onedrive data has been deleted

linkshomeownerssociety homeownerssociety 20

my one drive data has been deleted (18 days ago) and although it appears in the recycle bin it will not restore

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Zoevi-V 4,015 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi linkshomeownerssociety homeownerssociety,

Thank you for reaching out to Microsoft Q&A Forum. I understand how concerning this is, especially when your files are still visible in the OneDrive Recycle Bin but won’t restore.

Since the files were deleted 18 days ago, they are still within OneDrive’s standard retention period. When restore fails from the Recycle Bin, it’s usually due to one of the following reasons:

A name or location conflict (a file or folder with the same name already exists in OneDrive)
A sync or permission issue at the time of restore
The files were part of a bulk deletion or corruption event, which may require a full rollback instead of individual restore

Here are the recommended next steps:

Try “Restore your OneDrive” (full rollback): If you’re using a Microsoft 365 personal subscription, you can restore your entire OneDrive to a point before the deletion (up to the last 30 days): You can refer to this article since it is often the most effective option when individual files won’t restore.
Check for restore conflicts: Before restoring from the Recycle Bin, make sure there are no folders or files in OneDrive with the same names as the deleted items. Renaming or temporarily moving existing folders can sometimes allow the restore to complete successfully.
Confirm the account type
- Personal OneDrive: files stay in the Recycle Bin for 30 days
- Work or school OneDrive: files may also exist in a second‑stage Recycle Bin (93 days total), which an admin can check. In this case, please contact your administrator for more proper assistance.

At last, kindly contact Microsoft Support if restore still fails If the files appear in the Recycle Bin but cannot be restored and “Restore your OneDrive” does not resolve the issue, Microsoft Support is required to review the account state.

You can do that by visiting this link
Briefly describe your issue > Enter
Scroll down and select "Contact Support" to connect with a live agent via chat on your browser

Hopefully my response gives you some useful directions toward fixing this.

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Answer 1

If your OneDrive data was deleted 18 days ago and it still appears in the recycle bin but cannot be restored, it may be due to the retention policy in place. Typically, deleted files in OneDrive are retained in the recycle bin for a designated period, after which they may be permanently deleted. For OneDrive associated with work or school accounts, deleted files are usually kept for 93 days before being permanently removed.

Since your deletion occurred 18 days ago, it should still be within the recoverable period. Here are some steps you can take to try to restore your files:

Check the Recycle Bin: Ensure you are looking in both the first-stage and second-stage recycle bins. Sometimes files can be moved to the second-stage recycle bin after being deleted from the first.
Use Files Restore: If you are unable to restore the files directly from the recycle bin, you can use the Files Restore feature in OneDrive to restore your entire OneDrive to a previous point in time within the last 30 days. This feature allows you to select a recovery time based on file activity.
Contact Support: If the above methods do not work, consider reaching out to Microsoft support for assistance, as they may have additional recovery options available.

If your files are not available in the recycle bin or through the Files Restore feature, it may be challenging to recover them, as OneDrive does not provide a native method for recovery beyond these options.

References: