Google changed its tune and removed the file creation limit it’s quietly implemented for Drive for the past few weeks. In a Twitter announcement (via android police), the Google Drive account said it is reverting a “system update to…item limits” that was made to “preserve stability and optimize performance.” The tech giant said it only affected a small number of users, but is now exploring alternative approaches to ensure stable performance for everyone.
If we need to make changes, we will notify users in advance.
—Google Drive (@googledrive) April 4, 2023
Several Drive users have encountered an error showing that their upload had failed and that they couldn’t exceed a 5 million item creation limit since February. A Google spokesperson recently confirmed to Ars Technica that it had instituted a file creation limit of 5 million to “prevent misuse of [its] system in a way that could affect [its] stability and security.” While Google didn’t mention the limit in its new announcement, that’s precisely how it described the change it decided to roll back.
Google was criticized for not only putting a limit on the number of files a user can create, but also for not warning people about it. After all, the creation limit affected paying users, even those subscribed to the highest tier of Google One which is supposed to provide up to 30TB of storage. It was very possible to hit the number of files limit before hitting that storage limit for those who frequently create or upload smaller files. Additionally, Drive does not have a counter that can warn users that they are approaching the 5 million file creation limit.
Simply put, it wasn’t the best approach to prevent Drive misuse, and not informing users beforehand was perhaps as bad as the limit itself. Google promised in its announcement that if it decides to make changes to the cloud storage service in the future, it will communicate them to users in advance.