a helper method for retrieving the byte data of a file

def _get_data(self, file_id):
    
        ''' a helper method for retrieving the byte data of a file '''
        
        title = '%s._get_data' % self.__class__.__name__
        
    # request file data
        try:
            record_data = self.drive.get_media(fileId=file_id).execute()
        except:
            raise DriveConnectionError(title)
        
        return record_data