A teammate empties a client project folder from the shared drive on a Friday, and nobody notices until someone goes looking for the unedited footage. Or a laptop holding the only copy of a shoot stops booting. The first is a question about recovery windows, measured in days. The second is whether the footage ever left the laptop. This piece sets out what Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive document about the first, and how to find your own number.
The moment the folder is gone
A sync client keeps devices identical. When a file is deleted on one machine, the client treats that as one more change to propagate, so the deletion is applied on every connected machine and in the cloud. The shared folder is a mirror, not a copy. Google’s help page on deleting files says anyone a trashed file was shared with can continue to access it until it is permanently deleted, and that files moved to Trash are deleted forever after 30 days.
The two scenarios sit on opposite sides of that line. A teammate emptying a folder is a deletion, and sync products have a documented answer to it, inside a window. A dead laptop holding footage that was never uploaded is not a deletion at all: no sync product has a copy to restore, and none of the windows below apply.
Three clocks recur below, defined once here.
- Trash or recycle bin window: how long a deleted item stays in the vendor’s holding area, where a user can restore it.
- Version history window: how long earlier versions of a file, including the one before an overwrite, can be viewed and restored.
- Post-permanent-deletion window: the time after an item has been permanently deleted. On the Dropbox and OneDrive pages read for this piece, that window is none.
If you are comparing plans on cost rather than recovery, how storage is priced by seat, by terabyte or by asset covers metering and capacity.
Google Drive: 30 days in Trash, and a version rule with two limits
Google’s Trash page says files remain in Trash for 30 days, then they are deleted forever. The delete-files page adds that Trash still counts towards storage until permanent deletion, so deleting footage to free space frees none for 30 days.
Versions are a second clock. On the version help page, under the heading for keeping versions forever, Google says a version might be permanently deleted after 30 days or if there are 100 newer versions, and that older versions can be pinned. The page says Google Docs, Sheets and Slides follow a different history rule, so this one covers files like exported video.
The 100 newer versions limit matters for a file that is re-exported under the same name. Picture an editor who overwrites one export several times a day during client revisions. Whichever limit arrives first can remove an older version. Pinning keeps one, as a manual step per version.
Dropbox and OneDrive: the same product, a different clock by plan
Dropbox sets the window by plan, as the table shows. Three details the table cannot carry: the version history overview page says an upgrade does not reach backwards, so moving from Basic to Professional starts the 180 day window on the day of the upgrade. The recovery page says a permanently deleted file whose period has expired can’t be recovered. And the Extended Version History page, updated by Dropbox on Jan 30, 2026, says the add-on is not available to customers who purchased Plus through Google Play or the App Store. No add-on price appears on that page, so none is given here.
OneDrive splits by account type, not by plan. Microsoft’s restore page says that for personal accounts you can restore files or folders deleted within the last 30 days, and for work or school accounts within the last 93 days, unless your administrator changed the retention setting. It also says files and folders cannot be restored after they have been permanently deleted from the OneDrive recycle bin. On the restore-a-previous-version page, Microsoft states: “File version history is retained for 30 days.”
| Vendor | Plan or account type | Recoverable | Days | Source (fetched 2026-10-01) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Drive | All, as documented | Deleted item in Trash | 30 | support.google.com/drive/answer/1716222 |
| Google Drive | Non-Google-format files | Earlier version | 30, or 100 newer versions | support.google.com/drive/answer/2409045 |
| Dropbox | Basic, Plus, Family | Deleted item | 30 | help.dropbox.com/delete-restore/recover-deleted-files-folders |
| Dropbox | Professional, Essentials, Standard, Business | Deleted item | 180 | Same page |
| Dropbox | Advanced, Business Plus, Enterprise, Education | Deleted item | 365 | Same page |
| Dropbox | Plan tiers as listed on the version history page | Earlier version | 30, 180 or 365 | help.dropbox.com/delete-restore/version-history-overview |
| Dropbox | Plus with Extended Version History add-on | Earlier version | One year | help.dropbox.com/delete-restore/extended-version-history |
| OneDrive | Personal account | Deleted item | 30 | Microsoft: restore deleted files or folders in OneDrive |
| OneDrive | Work or school account | Deleted item | 93, unless an administrator changed it | Same page |
| OneDrive | As documented on the page | Earlier version | 30 | Microsoft: restore a previous version in OneDrive |
What a dedicated backup product documents differently
A backup product keeps its own copy of files taken from the computer, so retention is a setting rather than a side effect of syncing. Backblaze’s Version History page says that by default it retains 30 days, after which updated, changed or deleted versions are removed from the backup, leaving only the most recent version. For client version 7.0 or newer, the setting can be raised to 1 year (365 days) or Forever.
The page carries a caveat for anyone raising it late: the increase in retention is effective only after the point when you enable the setting, so if you change from 30 days to one year, files that were previously cleared from the backup after 30 days are not available.
The Personal Backup product page describes Forever retention as optional and available for an added fee. The pricing page, read on 2026-10-01, shows Personal backup at $99 per year. It does not state the added fee for 1 year or Forever as text, so no figure is given here and none is estimated.
Backblaze’s 30 day default equals the free-tier window at Google Drive and Dropbox Basic and the personal window at OneDrive. What a backup adds is a raisable setting and a separate copy of what sits on the computer, not a longer default.
Working out your own window before you need it
Ten minutes is enough.
- Find the plan or account type. For OneDrive, personal or work or school. For Dropbox, the exact plan name.
- Read the day count for that plan on the vendor page.
- Check whether an administrator changed retention. Microsoft’s page says the 93 day figure holds unless an administrator changed it.
- Check whether the footage was ever synced from the camera card or the laptop. A file that never reached the folder has no window at all.
- Write down the date the clock started. It is the delete date, not the upload date.
An illustration, not a case study: a folder is emptied on a Friday. On the following Monday, three days have elapsed, which is inside a 30 day window and inside a 180 day window. If nobody notices for 40 days, the 30 day window has closed and the 180 day window is still open, with 140 days remaining.
What none of these windows cover: files that were never synced, an account closure or lockout, and anything after permanent deletion. Dropbox says a permanently deleted file whose recovery period has expired can’t be recovered, and Microsoft says nothing can be restored after permanent deletion from the OneDrive recycle bin. The vendors document windows, not guarantees.
A handed-off transfer link is not a backup either, as the free plan’s real limit is the clock sets out. For exit planning, see what you can actually export before a social tool shuts down.
Prices verified, and what this page is not
Day counts and prices here were read from each vendor’s own help or pricing page on the date of writing. Prices verified: 2026-10-01.
This page is not Watchdog data and is not on the re-verification schedule, so a vendor can change a window after the date shown.
followedapp is published by the team behind RecurPost, and RecurPost is one of the vendors covered under the same rules. RecurPost is not a storage or backup product and is not discussed here beyond this sentence.
FAQ
Is syncing a folder the same as backing it up?
No. Sync applies changes, including deletions, across every connected device, so what you can recover depends on the vendor’s recovery window, from 30 days to 365 days in the table. A backup keeps its own copy, but Backblaze documents a 30 day default.
Is the OneDrive recovery window different for work accounts?
Yes. Microsoft’s restore page gives 30 days for personal accounts and 93 days for work or school accounts, unless an administrator changed the retention setting.
Sources
- Google Drive Help: delete files, fetched 2026-10-01
- Google Drive Help: restore files from Trash, fetched 2026-10-01
- Google Drive Help: file versions, fetched 2026-10-01
- Dropbox Help: recover deleted files and folders, fetched 2026-10-01
- Dropbox Help: version history overview, fetched 2026-10-01
- Dropbox Help: extended version history overview, fetched 2026-10-01
- Microsoft Support: restore deleted files or folders in OneDrive, fetched 2026-10-01
- Microsoft Support: restore a previous version of a file in OneDrive, fetched 2026-10-01
- Backblaze: Version History, fetched 2026-10-01
- Backblaze: Personal Backup, fetched 2026-10-01
- Backblaze: Personal Backup pricing, fetched 2026-10-01