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Forum Discussion
My files disappeared from my backup on the computer
I'm totally baffled!
I appear to be paying for a service I'm not receiving. I joined Dropbox over a year ago, but realised only recently that nothing was being backed-up.
My son, who is far more tech savvy than I am, thought he'd got it sorted. I could find my files in Backup - but they'd disappeared from my computer. Why? It's a Back-up, not a wipe clean!
So over the holiday we tried again, as none of the recent files were backed-up. This time the files and folders which I'd had to recreate were Backed-up and remained on my computer BUT all the previously backed-up files and folders had disappeared from the Back-up - and this included 10 years work in my Family History Files. Where are they? They weren't even in the deleted folder! I'm now in a worse mess than if I'd never joined.
What is going on? The program is far from intuitive, and is causing me a lot of aggravation.
17 Replies
- Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey Grandma Liz, thanks for reaching out to us.
Can you check your backups page and let me know if you can access all your backed up files there?
When you realized that your backups were missing from the computer, can you let us know which steps you followed that got them back?
And is it possible that when you noticed that your backups were missing, you had updated to the updated version of Dropbox backup?
Keep me posted.
Hi Hannah,
When I go into 'Dropbox Backups' from the ribbon at the top of my screen, I am able to go into 'Backups/PC/Documents, and can find the documents which are on my computer. However, if I click on 'Backups deleted' (top left) I get to the deleted files as part of a list (together with a waste-bin icon), the top of which is 'All Files'. If I click 'All Files' I can get to all the documents which I thought had been deleted - but doesn't include the files I have had to recreate since the wiping of my computer documents on the first occasion.
Have I got two places where my files are stored? Are both sets of files backed Up?
I was under the impression that my files would be backed-up automatically. As that doesn't appear to be the case, I attempted to follow the page about 'To set up a back-up'. It says 'click the Dropbox icon' (I did that), then it says 'click Avatar or initials in top right' (I have neither Avatar nor initials in top right, or anywhere else on the screen as far as I can see, and I certainly haven't found 'preferences' which was the next item). My initials are in the top right, but that only took me to my account, with no 'preferences'.
I'm certainly not aware of updating Dropbox.
I wish I could hand this all over to my son to sort out, but he lives over 2 hours away, so that isn't possible.
Grandma Liz
- Hannah
Hey Grandma Liz, happy new year!
Not to worry, we'll get to the bottom of this together. :)
It sounds like you're on the Dropbox website, so you won't find the preferences there.
Do you see the small Dropbox icon in your system tray/menu bar? If you click on that, you'll see your avatar/profile pic which will lead you to your preferences.
Before you do that, though, can you open both this page and this page to see if you can find the same files in both places?
I have tried clicking on the Dropbox icon on the menu bar, but nothing happens.
I've clicked on both of the pages indicated, and the information on them is different. On the one there are the documents backed up a few weeks ago (and which were removed from my computer in the backup), and the other has the documents I recreated subsequently, and are still available on my computer.
- Megan
Hey Grandma Liz, let me jump in here!
Would you be able to send me a screenshot of the files that were removed from your computer backup, and where are you able to access them now?
I'd love to have a visual. Also, just to make sure we're on the same page here: did I understand correctly that when you access your Backups/PC/Documents you can find the content that is on your device?
I don't know how to make a screenshot.
Yes, when I go to 'Dropbox backup' on the ribbon at the top right of my screen, I can then go to PC/Documents and find all the folders/files that are on my computer at present up till 15/12/2024 - anything created more recently isn't there.
When I try to access Dropbox from the icon at the bottom right of my screen, nothing happens.
- Hannah
Hi again, Grandma Liz.
Can you let me know what you see when you hover over that small Dropbox icon with your mouse?
It should show you the sync status and version of the Dropbox app.
Sorry this reply has taken so long - my computer keeps freezing.
When I hover over the Dropbox icon I see the following:-
Dropbox 214.4.5217
Indexing 1,682 files (1sec)
Downloading 314 files (0.0KB/sec, 1 sec
- Megan
Hey Grandma Liz!
Does the number of indexing and downloading files change, or does it remain the same?
Have you tried signing out of the app, and then back in?
The indexing number has changed, but the downloading figure has stayed the same.
I hadn't known how to sign out, and then back in again. Thank you for that. Yes, I've just done it. I now seem to have most of my files there, except for a group (about 6) whose file name began 'Local Preachers - ' followed by a suffix such as 'fellowship groups', which have not appeared in Dropbox, but have disappeared from my computer. It'll be annoying if they have disappeared for ever, but not insurmountable.
