I’ve got a big problem. There are over 500k pictures in my Google Drive’s main folder and I need to get rid of them fast. I’ve tried a bunch of stuff but nothing’s working:
- Deleting by hand: Way too slow. It would take forever.
- Using a script after connecting Drive to my computer: Couldn’t even get it to connect properly.
- Google Apps Script: Kept hitting limits or taking ages to finish.
I’m stuck and don’t know what else to try. Has anyone figured out a good way to delete tons of files from Google Drive all at once? I’d love to hear some ideas that might actually work and save me a ton of time. Thanks!
ive had this issue b4. try rclone, its a command line tool that can handle big batches. you’ll need to set it up with your google account, but once thats done you can delete files super fast. just be careful not to wipe out anything important!
Having dealt with a similar situation, I can suggest using the Google Drive desktop application. It allows for more efficient bulk operations compared to the web interface. After installing and syncing your Drive, you can use your computer’s file explorer to select and delete large numbers of files. This method bypasses many of the web interface’s limitations.
Another approach is to create a new folder, move all the unwanted files into it, then delete the entire folder. This can be more efficient than deleting individual files. Remember to empty your trash afterwards to free up space.
If these methods still prove too slow, consider reaching out to Google Support. They might be able to assist with bulk deletions on their end, especially for accounts with such large quantities of files.
I feel your pain, Bob. I had a similar nightmare with my Drive a while back. What worked for me was using the Google Drive API with a Python script to delete files in batches. I started by setting up a Google Cloud project, enabled the Drive API, and created OAuth credentials. Then I used a Python library (such as google-auth) to handle the deletion. This method proved far quicker than manual methods, as I managed to delete around 300k files in just a few hours.
If you’re not comfortable coding, you might want to look into paid tools like MultCloud, though I haven’t tried them myself. Just be careful and double-check what you’re deleting before proceeding.