We’re Still Here to Help (Even Over the Holidays!) - find out more here.
Forum Discussion
My files are gone since my account was over quota, and now I can't locate them.
I am a hard-working individual barely making ends meet…and use free Dropbox storage to save very important docs like children’s medical records, bills and other things I don’t want to lose. I can’t afford to PAY to store these and ran out of space. Cleared up space by manually deleting files but then-poof- 100s of files that I thought were “saved” (never got any error messages or anything saying they weren’t) are missing from Dropbox! I can’t talk to anyone, email or communicate in any way with someone bc I can’t PAY to do it. My files/folder are Not in deleted files, not on dropbox.com, just gone. I’ve been “saving” files for months and they are now gone. Also, word docs were wiped clean. Unbelievable and I can’t believe we don’t have better consumer protection from companies that can just wipe documents clean and delete them at their own discretion. AND can’t talk to ANYONE at this “trusted” company about it. Why should I have to pay (by upgrading) to get help and is there fine print somewhere saying Dropbox can just start deleting everything? Never again will I use them
2 Replies
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
- Megan
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hi there, Simoneo sorry to hear about that!
I'd suggest checking your events too, and your shared page, in the case that the files were shared.
Also, when was the last time you saw your files when visiting your account online, and did you use the app to update them and upload them to your account?
I'm asking because if the missing files weren’t syncing due to the low storage in your Dropbox account, then it wouldn’t be possible to recover them from the site.
If they never made it to our servers, you may need to be looking for them locally on your device, be it in their original locations or your trash can. It might be possible to recover the files from the local machine from the recycle bin, or using a third party app or service to do so. Feel free to also have a look at this older thread.
I'll be waiting for your updates!
- Mark
Super User II
Why should I have to pay (by upgrading) to get help and is there fine print somewhere saying Dropbox can just start deleting everything?
Sorry you are having issues :(
However, it is reasonable to pay for a service to get support - especially given there is NO other income for the company here. It isn't like Google which harvests your data etc. to cover the costs.
In terms of the data being deleted, yes, its in the T&C's to say if you are over quota they CAN reduce your files by deleting them. But they do prior warn by email.
That said, Dropbox cannot delete things that weren't uploaded to its servers, so, if you had 'out of quota' messages those files wont have sync'd - Dropbox doesn't know the exist. SO, something else has deleted them. And in this case, best place to look is local computer trash/recycle bin.
