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deleted folder re appeared after a couple of years
Something very weird just happened with my dropbox account. Out of nowhere, a folder which was deletec about 2 years ago re appeared on my dropbox. It has the files as they were, which makes me wonder why the hell dropbox is still keeping these files after a few years that they have been deleted?
First I thought it was a hack, but then I checked all my devices and what was accessing my account and indeed, everything was as it was before.
It makes me think this is a serious bug and on another note, why the hell is dropbox keeping data that was deleted 2 years ago?
I'll surprised, scared and angry at the same time. I'm not even sure where to begin! I'm now wondering about several of my clients that use dropbox in their business if the same happens.
Thanks everyone for your patience while we worked on a way to clean up the inadvertently restored files and folders. We've built a fix that will automatically return this content to the way it should be: deleted and out of your Dropbox. This will only impact the inadvertently restored files and folders, and only if you haven’t updated them. We’ll begin rolling out the fix to affected users’ accounts later today. We’re giving you a heads up here so you’re aware of why there may be changes to your Dropbox. Here’s a bit more information about the fix.
Will this affect my other files?
The fix will only impact the inadvertently restored files and folders. If you have edited the files or folders—by moving them or updating the content inside—they will stay in your Dropbox. You can still manually delete these files and folders if you don’t want them.What if I don’t want these files or folders removed?
While the fix will automatically take effect later today, you can contact our support team (dropbox.com/support) within 30 days and we’ll restore the files and folders for you. You won’t be able to restore on your own using the events page.Do I need to do anything?
We will automatically roll out the fix, you don’t need to do a thing. If you have questions or concerns, please write our support team at http://bit.ly/cm-support so that we can investigate your specific case. Your ticket will be prioritized by the team.Thanks again for your patience, and we’re sorry for any inconvenience and confusion we’ve caused.
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Oh and yes. The "ghost" folders, for lack of a better term, are still there. I delete and they reappear. I guess the issue isn't actually resolved
Ross_SDropbox Staff
Thanks for letting us know! Ok, we're looking into this now. I'll update again as soon as possible.
This happened to me as well -- several very old folders reappeared with their contents intact. I found this forum, and read through the postings and replies. I am extremely put off by this -- and the official response. Obviously, we've been LIED to. Our deleted files have been hanging out on their servers due to a metadata error, and they just now, seven years later figured that out? Files that should have been permanently deleted 30 - 60 days "after the initial deletion." I don't buy that. Shady.
This is a big deal. You've just lost a lot of trust. How do we know that this is the extent of it? How can we know Dropbox is safe? Or takes our privacy seriously? Huge fail, Dropbox. You can no longer be trusted.
Hi All, On the 18th Jan. approx 11:40 local time (Turkey), I had loads of old long-deleted files from 2011 mysteriously reappear in my Dropbox. Also, some updated files seem to have reverted to older versions of themselves. Does anyone know what's happening? I've since changed my password but this seems more like some strange system error. There are no devices with these older versions that I know of and I use a Mac at home and a PC at work.
- Rich
Super User II
JasonW wrote:
Does anyone know what's happening?
Yes. The explanation has been posted in the very thread that you replied to. Read the entire thing and you'll have your answer.
I'm glad it's fixed, but.... this explanation sounds like these files were kept in quarantine for 5 years while you worked on this bug. That doesn't make me feel warm and fuzzy about the "60 days" you listed below.
Ross, thanks for this. One thing, its unclear how to identify all those files that have reappeared. There are obvious top level folders that have reappeared, but how do I find files that may have reappeared somewhere inside a valid top level folder (that is a folders that was correctly in my dropbox just before the bug) if I have 100Ks of valid files and folders in my dropbox?
Can you give some more guidance on how to identify them? Or does this bug only put these reappearing files and folders at the top level of my dropbox?
A similar thing happened to me: An old (maybe in the past shared?, created 2011-12-18 ) folder created reapeared recently with 4 pictures inside. Original file names but 0 Bytes.
Were in your case the files fully restored or only "empty" 0-Byte files?
@ Dropboxers: Is this part of the same issue or do I have to worry about the intgrity/validity of my account and files? I am not sure wether something is missing. I only noticed this very old folder reappearing and am slightly shocked. :-(
