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Forum Discussion
chlojito
8 months agoNew member | Level 2
The account appears to have been deleted without a warning.
Hello,
I hope someone can help. I have had a dropbox account going back many years, and have been using it to upload family photos (and camera uploads automatically from my phone). In October last year, I received an email saying my account had been downgraded as a payment for my plan hadn't gone through—but my inbox is a mess, so I only just saw it this evening.
The email said it was downgraded but that my files hadn't been deleted. There was nothing about deletion. However, when I logged in tonight, it's like a brand new account... No files at all, no event/account activity.
Has anyone had a similar situation? I'm so frightened that I've lost everything, as this was my backup. I don't know what I'll do if I can't recover my files. That's my wedding, my deceased family members, my whole life going back to 2012...
Any assistance at all would be so appreciated. Thank you in advance!
19 Replies
- Jay4 months ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
HI chlojito, as Mark said, by now it wouldn't be possible to recover any files from a Dropbox account, let alone one that was deactivated or deleted.
The only possibility remaining for you is if you had a device that was once connected to your account, which hasn't yet synced to Dropbox. The device should still have those files on the hard drive.
- Mark4 months ago
Super User II
chlojito wrote:
My husband has suggested perhaps there are back-ups somewhere (not that he’s an expert, obviously—just trying to give me hope, I think).
There arent I'm afraid. Once an account is removed its permanent. Can you imagine the legal complaints and ramifications if they say they have deleted all data permanently and then it transpires they havent?
There could have been a slim chance maybe a day or so after removal, but, after 5 months thats not happening I'm afraid. Even paid accounts (i.e ones paying at the time) only get a 6 month recovery window and unfortunately you've waited 5 months to follow up the thread.
- chlojito4 months agoNew member | Level 2
Hi all,
Thank you for your replies. I’ve been too depressed to log in here in fear of there being no solution.
i didn’t receive any emails,Megan. Please, is there anyway? I’d pay any amount of money to recover those photos… so many of my grandparents that I now longer have, and they’ve since passed away. I was uploading them here to keep them safe; I thought I was being smart. I don’t think I’ll handle it well if they’re lost forever. My husband has suggested perhaps there are back-ups somewhere (not that he’s an expert, obviously—just trying to give me hope, I think).
please do let me know?
Best,
Chloé
- Hannah8 months ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey Sivmo, you can actually contact our support team yourself, by following these steps:
- Open a private browsing/incognito window on your browser
- Without logging in to your Dropbox account, go to this page
- Fill out the form and submit your request
When you have your ticket number, please send it along to us as well.
- Sivmo8 months agoExplorer | Level 4
I have, but that email address like I said, created a new account unfortunately.
that would be great as I still have hope this can be recovered! 🥹
- Jay8 months ago
Dropbox Community Moderator
HI chlojito, when you say you had it connected to your phone, do you mean prior to the recent login?
From what you've described, it sounds like the account has been deleted, meaning that it wouldn't be possible to recover the account or the files within.
Do you have any other devices that could've been connected to your account prior to now, in order to try to recover any local data from there?
- chlojito8 months agoNew member | Level 2
Hi Megan,
I don't recall the last time I accessed my account; I have it linked to the app on my phone so the camera uploads happen automatically—does that count?
I tried to log in using my usual email/password combination, and it appears to be a brand new account now, with no files at all. No signs of anything in the events page; as in, there are zero events, it's a blank slate.
I'm so frightened I've lost everything; I've already started grieving all those lost memories. Please, can you let me know if there's any way we can roll things back? Surely they're all still on a server somewhere? I used to pay for the account, and I've had it for many years, maybe there's a backup somewhere?
I can't have lost everything. I don't know what I'll do. Please let me know?
- Clairecox8 months agoNew member | Level 2
I have just upgraded again to the 2TB paid option and the photos have appeared back. It seems I can only access them when paying.
- Mark8 months ago
Super User II
chlojito wrote:
I'm just thinking, surely they have backups, right?
If an account is removed due to inactivity, or, files are deleted and not recovered within the recovery window (30 days for free users) there is no recovery possible. The files are removed - you are warned this repeatedly on the emails sent.
Dropbox removes data for inactivity, or, being over quota - that was something which came in awhile ago but would have been in different emails to your downgrade one.
- Clairecox8 months agoNew member | Level 2
Thanks so much. Was logged in maximum 2 weeks ago, but think I even downloaded an image last week. The app on my phone is also showing no photos or files?
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