Lost my files when cancelling a trial with Dropbox Backup active

Hi Jay, the Dropbox app started syncing again as I posted, so when it gets done... it's been running for more than a week now.. I'll consider going to Google Chrome in an attempt to download my content but MS Edge should be fine for the Dropbox website. There is the Microsoft Windows Firewall running with MS Security Essentials software watching for viruses, but no VPN enabled here at home. The ISP router which enables my net connection is vanilla - with no security built-in.

Update: I checked the Windows Firewall rules and Dropbox.exe is allowed Inbound for "All" connections. No Outbound rules are configured for Dropbox.

Hi STUOS, you mentioned the app is syncing again. Could you send me a screenshot of the app's current syncing status and/or any network error message that you're seeing on your end? 

Thanks!

Megan, thanks for responding, but to clarify for you..

I only get the Network error when I attempt to download my content from the Dropbox website, and I'm not doing that presently - I'm just trying to let Sync finish using the Dropbox app. It hangs after syncing for a while.. For 4 weeks or more now it's been acting this way. I had to go on vacation for a week with the computer set up not to hibernate or sleep while the app tried to run and sync. I thought it was completed syncing when I got back from vacation for three days and three nights, but it had apparently crashed while I was gone. So I started "babysitting" the app again after logging in again, doing workarounds to keep it running and that's where I'm at now. The workarounds I've been using for the Dropbox app are to pause Sync - then restart it, or to highlight content that is "Waiting to sync", and tell the app to "Sync Next". Then it seems to wake up and begin syncing again. Another workaround I've been using to wake it up and make it begin syncing again is to close the app and re-launch it and I had to obviously do that when it crashed.. 

OK, Dropbox Sync seemed to finish properly this time after 6 weeks.. and having inspected the content that is now on Dropbox and comparing it to what I remember having on my laptop.. Looks like everything is there!! But I had to go back on my laptop today and find where Dropbox partially downloaded content in the wrong place when downloading failed before, find out where it should be and make sure those files were re-downloaded in the right folder structure. There were 5 files that were in the wrong location locally according to the Dropbox location. 

NEW ISSUE: Only smaller directories can be DOWNLOADED from the Dropbox website. I get "Network Error" on directories so far, bigger than 333-MB. The smaller directories 34-MB, 36-MB, etc.. download fine and I can unzip them into the proper directories, but doing it this way is a headache.

SO NOW.. HOW DO I DOWNLOAD the larger directories without a Network issue happening? VPN is not enabled and I'm using an updated MS Edge browser. Windows Firewall is running but Dropbox.exe is not blocked. I should try Chrome, according to Jay.

Hey STUOS! 

In general, there’s a 20GB limit when downloading files from the Dropbox website, so you shouldn’t have an issue with downloads that are smaller than that. 

Please go ahead and try Chrome too, and let me know if the same error persists.

Hi Nancy,
Thanks for jumping in. Dropbox Sync seemed to finish properly on MS Edge, so I am assuming that using Chrome would have required THE SAME cajoling like the Microsoft browser did, but you never know. Bottom line is all my "stuff" seems to be on Dropbox now after letting the Dropbox app run FOR 6 WEEKS, closing or pausing and kicking it off again or unpausing it again. Another thing I've never mentioned, I had to bump up my Dropbox account to 3TB and delete content on Dropbox also in an effort to STOP the annoying YOU'RE OUT OF DISK SPACE messages and which was also apparently a blocking issue for Dropbox Sync to work at all. So I was compelled to UPGRADE to a 3 TB account to clear the blocking issue and stop the bot messages.

As far as the large file downloading limit of 20-GB, NO I DIDN'T SEE THAT using the app. More like 300-MB limit per file or directory being attempted before the download stream slowed down and stopped, then eventually popped the "Network Issue" error in the app. But HEY!!  I still needed to bring down the large directories from Dropbox to my laptop if my goal was to completely reverse this stupid mistake that ate my files; and I DID THIS by abandoning the untrustworthy app and making use of the Dropbox Explorer (not the Website) to QUICKLY copy the rest of my large files locally. No one told me I could do that!! But it was quick! (And using the Dropbox website, I also just restored the content I had to delete to stop the YOU'RE OUT OF DISK SPACE messages. I thought that one through on my own.)

Done deal, dudes and dudettes!! Thanks for all the help. Now that all the hard work is over, I can delete my Dropbox account and stop using Dropbox Backup properly without Dropbox keeping all my content. Uh, how do I do THAT????

I'm glad you were able to retrieve all your files, STUOS, and that this situation is resolved for you.

Rest assured that all your comments are also passed along to our team.

Now, there are a couple of things to check, before deleting your Dropbox account.

The backup feature needs to be disabled, if you haven't done that already. You can follow the steps here, to do it.

After this, you'll need to disconnect any computers you might have linked to your account.

To do that, you can either sign out of the desktop application on those computers, or just delete them from the devices section in the security tab of your account settings.

I hope this helps.

Hannah, it's been a NIGHTMARE for almost 2 months and I'm only still working on it because after mis-reading your post, I mistakenly clicked "Setup" instead of just leaving the applet unclicked. Huge mistake. I missed your instruction to leave that alone. So Dropbox started synching across again by mistake, and before I could stop it, the flaky app had uploaded and marked almost 15 GB of data AGAIN, so here I am again.. waiting for the terrible Dropbox app to finishing syncing on my laptop AGAIN!! It says it will take 15 hours, but it stops synching all the time. I'm removing my most important computer on the security tab from the list of Dropbox supported machines and as soon as I get get my data to fully sync again, I will leave DROPBOX and all it's "features" in my rear view window.