Dropbox backup deleting the original files on my backed up PC.

[revik345]

If this is the way Dropbox backup is going to work I may seek a different solution.  Dropbox didn't just make a backup copy, it removed the files from my PC so that there is not a local copy.  Is there a setting that I haven't found or is it intended to work this way?  Please let me know as this is not an acceptable approach.  

[tess e]

totally agree! 

[on the earth now]

I also found myself backing up files to the cloud *without wanting to*. I have never backed anything up to the cloud, have never given permission. I remember in the long process Dropbox initiates -- always just "one more thing to do" -- that I checked a "local" box.

All I wanted to do was to use Dropbox to receive some large audio files and I signed on only because it was really made difficult to do this as a non-subscribers. I am really regretting this. I feel conned.

Now I'm afraid to stop the process as I can see that people have reported lost files when they do this. How to undo this unwanted process without losing anything from my computer, please? "Invasive" is right, Tess (and super-user Mark who is a super-user and yet made the same mistake?)

[on the earth now]

I have been "burned" like you and also need to power off my computer as all kinds of things are cropping up ... it's incredibly slow and several big grey boxes appeared on the screen when I tried to navigate my Thunderbird email and are now stuck there, obscuring what I need to get to though I have closed the Tbird app. ... Also, I have no battery power and will be unplugging this machine very soon. That requires power down.

[tess e]

😞  I hope you get some relief and find a solution. If you do, please share! 

[Zaga]

Did you manage to restore files after purchasing a higher plan? 

[Jurgenst]

I did not approve anything. I clicked on backup and then it started. I could not even choose what to backup. Since then I am loosing files like nothing. Even the files that were not deleted.

[tess e]

I feel you! I have been sent a message on how to stop the syncing but it isn't working, everything I put in my files now ends up on db and if I delete some in DB they delete off my pc now. So frustrating! 

[Mayorbob]

I deleted a number of Libreoffice files backed up on dropbox. Now I cannot access them on the local drive. Is there a way to retrieve them, or does Dropbox also delete the original as well as the backed up? 

[Demoerin Delux]

I am sorry to say but you are totally wrong when you say that the folders just get moved.  Delete one of the files on either the PC or dropbox and you will see it is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Rich]

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@Demoerin Delux wrote:

I am sorry to say but you are totally wrong when you say that the folders just get moved.  Delete one of the files on either the PC or dropbox and you will see it is GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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It's not wrong. The key folders are MOVED into your local Dropbox folder. This causes those folders to sync with your account online, so anything you do in the folder, such as deleting a file, will be synced to your account online as well, and vice versa. Delete a file in your account, and it will be deleted from your local folder on your computer. That is the entire point of an application that syncs your files. Changes made to one side are automatically made on the other.

If you do not want your key folders (Desktop, Documents, Downloads, etc.) to sync to Dropbox, do not enable the backup feature. Those saying that they didn't enable it, and that they only re/installed Dropbox, have likely enabled it during the install by not following the prompts that appear. It's not possible for the backup feature to be enabled on it's own, or by a single click.

If you need to restore any files from your backups, refer to this help article.