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Re: Why did all of my files disappear?

Why did all of my files disappear?

Mark H.2
New member | Level 1
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A folder that is owned by me and shared with two others is now empty. What happened to all of my image files? How do I get them back?

104 Replies 104

Lynn M.1
New member | Level 1
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Same thing just happened to me. Files were disappearing from Dropbox while I watched. I was talking with the other person sharing a folder with me. The files were viewable by him but disappeared from my Dropbox. I went online and restored the files. Five minutes later, it happened all over again (but a different set of files disappeared from the folder. This is crazy. With thousands of files in multiple folders, it's impossible to know what is gone at this point. I guess I will be looking for an alternative to Dropbox.

Brian F.3
New member | Level 1
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I'm freaking out people! But, it's nice to know that I'm not alone. I have had issues with my Dropbox for the past month similar to the problems described above. Suddenly, instead of the green check box next to Dropbox icon, I get the spinning blue sync icon and I don't know what's happening. Files/Folders are being deleted and I'm not doing anything. I usually end of doing a full Dropbox search and I find the folders hidden under random other folders and I can get them back after a big headache.

But, this time it's worse. I can not find a shared folder that has my entire business' financials in it and a personal folder that I don't share with anyone that also has valuable subfolders and files. My IT team is trying to find out the problem but I can't see to find these folders. I know for sure that I did not delete these, nor did people I share folder with. This happened yesterday and/or day before. I see in events tab showing all of this activity and I did none of it.

Does anyone know how to restore folders if you can't see them on your Dropbox list of folders? Is there anyway to speak to a person at Dropbox? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.

Brian

Milad H.
New member | Level 1
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Almost 1TB worth of files and folders are missing from my Dropbox .

Dropbox is synced over 8 computers, after disabling sync for a new folder using selective sync I have realised that most of my folders and files have disappeared from the cloud as well as the local computers. 

I have checked for deleted files and event history  both showing earlier files then today which means nothing was deleted by me. I had one year version history and deleted files service.  

I have reported this to Dropbox, now looking at the previous messages from others it seems unlikely that Dropbox will respond let alone restore my files. 

 

 

 

Louie L.
New member | Level 1
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I am having the same problem too. After reading all these messages I have decided to switch to Google Drive instead and hopefully it won't happen to Google.

Allan D.3
New member | Level 1
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Appalling! All files in a shared folder gone!!! Dropbox needs to look into this and provide solutions and reasons for this debacle...smh. I am certain neither I nor the co-owner folder deleted anything (at least not intentionally)

Ed
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

As Rich has said:

"Dropbox is not capable of deleting your files on its own. Either you, another process on your computer or another device connected to your account had to have caused the deletion.

Start here:

If you're still unsure or want to get additional investigation on your account, please log a ticket with our support team on www.dropbox.com/support - make sure you add as many details to file or folder names that are missing, dates, etc.

Do not post any personal information here on the forum.




Ed G
Community Manager @ Dropbox
https://dropbox.com/support


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Ed M.37
New member | Level 1
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Ed, I think its very easy to move files and not realise and possibly others to delete but...I think looking at type of comments from long term users, it might be worth investigation !

I started to comment in a post and removed as to be honest dont have time to chase but...I can absolutely confirm I have seen folders deleted and then come back a day or so later with only one other shared user that wasnt even logged on or aware they had a share. I have seen once where folder WAS still on the portal but not locally..implied deleted and couple of times where disappeared on both and came back on both - go figure.

I have seen folders move...and I am very careful...many years with dropbox from start and experienced in IT...so did I do it...I have to assume so???

We also use Dropbox heavily to send large files and regularly see syncing issues (spinning out for days with zero action) and crashing of dropbox which we have never had issues with in the past. It didnt like very high numbers of small files either (about 3 Million in a folder tree)

We have 50TB capacity on TEAM now with I guess 50 users so not fly by night user and I would say there are some bugs that should be focussed on just to check...its easy when company growing so fast to push on with new features but its not ALWAYS user error...if the code instigates a command to move or delete, then it can move or delete if there is a mistake.

Ed.

Carl W.1
New member | Level 2
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Well this only gets worse! I have stopped adding new materials to dropbox and have had to perform multiple drive rescues to regain most (not all) of my valuable work records and files. So today, I see in my dropbox icon in the task bark a list of recently changed files, hundreds of them. I have been extremely careful with my activities and can guarantee I did not do this!

 

Issue: files randomly disappear and are changed, but not by the owner

User remedy: Contact dropbox for support

Solution by dropbox: User error, dropbox can do no wrong, you're on your own.

Issue continues: Files changing or being modified by someone else or drop box error!

Cause: Either dropbox software is buggy and totally unreliable or, Dropbox security has been compromised and has been for some time or User error.

Result: I am forced to cancel my DB account as I am convinced user error is not to fault.

Linda S.13
New member | Level 1
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A little more insight into what files were deleted. I noticed that anything "normal" was deleted i.e Word, Excel, PDF, JPG, .Gif, .mov (and any of their variations). What wasn't deleted was anything "unusual" Pages, Numbers and Keynote (I'm a Mac user), my 1Password keychain, other mobile apps that write their own data i.e the mobile health app I use.

I would have been an extraordinary accompaniment for me to go into every folder and sub, sub folder and delete only some files and not others. Or even for my computer or another user to do this , FYI there are no other users and I sync only 3 devices - computer, iPhone and iPad.

This completely "random" behavior is leading me to believe even more strongly that this is a DropBox issue.  Something was run or hacked into and run that is causing only certain file types to be affected.

DropBox hasn't been any help, there emails to me were circular... are they they here or there... when what I really wanted was an entire replacement of my files - everything. 

I was however able to retrieve everything from my TimeMachine backup since I do know that DropBox is not backup but storage. However, if this was happening on my internal drive I'd be having a tech look at it, something DropBox isn't doing on their end. They are admitting no responsibility. 

Carl W.1
New member | Level 2
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Well. I am totally at wits end with DB! The tech support guy "Aldo" repeatedly sends me the same BS form email. I'm certain now that he doesn't even read my emails. I cant even unlink! the app on my PC tells me that the its not linked with an account while at the same time it tries to sync files! Dropbox clearly does not take their product, customer service or security seriously. What will it take to get some cooperation?

Need more support?