When you find the file, move it to a folder in My Drive so it’s easier to find next time.

In the search bar, enter: is:unorganized owner:me.

The file isn't deleted, it's automatically moved to your My Drive.

You share a folder with someone and they remove your file from the folder.

Important: Only you can delete the files you own. It's automatically moved to your My Drive.

You create a file in someone else's folder and they delete that folder.

The file still exists, but is harder to find. If you can’t find a file that you created in Drive, it might have lost the folder it was in. Learn why files go missing If you created the file For example, to see spreadsheets, next to 'Type,' click the down arrow, then click 'Spreadsheets.'

Use the advanced search options to find your file.

In the search bar, click the icon to the far right.

Click 'Activity' to check the activity panel.

Alternatively, paid options like Paragon NTFS ($20 per Mac) or TuxeraNTFS ($31 for all home computers) will quickly restore access to your NTFS volumes. You can get your hands dirty and fix read-only problems for free with an open source solution, or by enabling macOS experimental NTFS support.

In order to write to your drive, you'll need to install a driver with support for that file system. Many Windows external drives are formatted to NTFS by default, and macOS doesn't include an NTFS driver. If your external hard drive is showing up but you can't write to it, it's likely using a Mac file system that your computer cannot write to.

Before We Begin: Read-Only Volumes and NTFS If Windows doesn't recognize your hard drive, please refer to the article for that platform. If you're having more serious problems with getting your Macbook Air to book, check out this step-by-step guide on what to do if your Mac won't boot. This is why the 3-2-1- backup rule is so important. In some instances you might find that it's impossible to recover your drive.

Rebuild trash on mac external drives