Google accounts are typically known for having excellent security but there have been issues involving data loss. Some of these issues have unknown causes while others appear to be caused by software glitches. There have even been cases where users have lost their entire accounts because Google wrongfully deleted their accounts for ToS violations. But there is one cause of account loss that you may not have heard about- merging Google accounts.

Your friends can cause you to lose your account

There have been accounts of users who let a friend use their computer and when the friend attempted to login to their Google account, they accidentally merged the two accounts. Then, in an attempt to unmerge the accounts, they deleted one of the accounts and it was gone forever. Google support was no help in any of these cases and the data was unable to be retrieved. 

Now I know you may be saying- well, I would never be that stupid. You may not be, but it’s possible that one of your friends could get confused. When dealing with multiple Google accounts on an unfamiliar computer or device, it’s very possible that a friend that is not very technically-inclined could accidentally merge or delete accounts. If it’s your account that gets deleted, you could lose everything. Years of emails, photos, documents and files can be wiped out that fast.

Most users are not computer-savvy

There are other preventative measures such as making your friends use incognito mode or private browsing. You can also create a guest account and make friends use that. The problem is that most users are not computer-savvy. They also trust their friends, especially if they say something like “Hey, do you mind if I check my email real fast? It will only take a minute.” Most users don’t understand that there could be serious consequences just for being kind to their friends. Also, most users believe that since all their data is stored in the cloud, it is safe from deletion. But as you can see in the cases above, this is simply not true when it comes to human error. 

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

So what is the solution? Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. If your Google account is the basket, you could potentially find all your eggs gone. You need a solid backup plan that you can just set up and forget about it. This is where cloudHQ can be your savior, or at least your peace of mind knowing that your account is safe.

CloudHQ provides a continuous backup of all your files on Google Drive and all your emails and attachments from Gmail. This replication is automated so once you’ve set it up, you don’t have to perform any other functions. No manual daily or weekly backups. It’s pure set it, forget it. The replication is instantaneous so any new files or revisions to files are backed up instantly, not just once per day or once per week. So if your friend causes your account to be deleted and you can’t get it back from Google, you will have a complete backup of all files and all emails, including attachments, saved to another cloud account on a separate cloud service such as Dropbox, Box or others. If you value your data, you simply MUST have a solid backup plan and cloudHQ provides the solution. For when it comes to data- “one is none and two is one.”