Dropbox changing file types to "Dropbox Attributes", original files gone

[rajeevba]

Not seeing original files, only seeing versions that have file type as "Dropbox attributes"!!

[Walter]

Hey there @rajeevba  - how are you today?

As I'm not sure I understand, could you please provide me with a screenshot of the problem at hand? Do these files preview normally on our website? What is your events page showing? 

On a side note, how did you upload them in the first place? 

Also, if you're using the desktop app, can you let me know what it reads at the moment? Is it "up to date" or still syncing changes? 

Any additional information will be much appreciated!

[rajeevba]

Hello Walter

I link below to a screenshot, my PC is dual screen, on the right is the shot of my desktop original folder, on the left is the current dropbox folder. The link is: https://www.dropbox.com/s/nr74km1o6lrtkay/Screenshot%202019-05-06%2009.23.53.png?dl=0

(the upload didnt work when I tried uploading/attaching)

The right original folder in the screenshot shows the original file types as word doc or RTF or LISREL .LS8 or .OUT etc. The files were uploaded into dropbox maybe 2 years ago. Now I see that this dropbox folder is only showing them as .dropbox.attributes, 1 KB each file!!! The same problem also appears on the website files. I do not know how to use the events. The dropbox folder is uptodate and not syncing.

Please help!!!

[Walter · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the additional information @rajeevba  - much appreciated!

The files you are seeing being added are "resource forks" or "extended attributes" (xattrs) that are hidden additional information that are part of the file but can't normally be seen.

Please note, while Dropbox is generally able to sync these file types across all computers, there are some situations in which these additional attribute files may be generated by either Dropbox or a computer to retain this information in situations where the file system on the computer does not support the extended attributes.

In general, these supported file systems are NTFS for Windows, HFS for Mac and on Linux a file system with xattrs support. If you are not running a default file system, you may want to check if your file system supports xattrs.

When a file with a specific type of extended attribute is synced to a computer that is unable to support writing extended attributes, such as filesystems like (FAT32), then a separate extended attribute file is generated by Dropbox to retain this information on the device. These files generally appear as files with :com.dropbox.attributes attached to the name, and would then be synced to dropbox.com and shared with other users if this is part of a shared folder.

If a file with unsupported attributes is added to a computer's Dropbox folder from a networked drive, dual boot configuration, or external drive with a different file system than that of your main drive's file system, the OS on your computer may generate these extended attribute files. This would happen as your computer's file system is unable to retain these attributes as part of the file. These files are in turn synced to dropbox.com as well.

To resolve this issue, you should be able to find the user or computer that is adding these files by checking the "Version history" of the file on dropbox.com. To do this, use the following steps:

1) Sign in to the Dropbox website:
https://www.dropbox.com
2) Find one of the attribute files
3) Select the file and choose "Version history"

Here you should be able to see which user and computer first added the file. You can have this user try and use a supported file system or attributes and verify that they are not pointing folders in their Dropbox folder to a networked drive with an unsupported file system.

You can read more about xattrs here.

For information about supported attributes and file systems you can check the details for your specific OS.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions. Thank you.

[rajeevba]

Dear Walter -- thanks for your explanation, but it is not answering my core question: where are my ORIGINAL files that were in this folder? Your explanation gets at why these additional dropbox-attribute-type files were ADDED but not why and where my original file types DISAPPEARED. Surely Dropbox does not pace all original files in such replacement danger?? That would be catastrophic! SO where are my original files that were in this folder and how do I get them?

Are you an official Dropbox Support person or do I need to raise an official support ticket for this catastrophic loss of files? (Thank God that in this case for some of them I have an unsync'd non-Dropbox folder on a different machine).

Thanks 

[Walter]

Even though I'm an official Moderator here in the Community, I don't have a view of your account's specifics @rajeevba.

For account specific inquiries, especially for restoration cases, you'll need to log a ticket with our support team.

I'd also urge you to check the Events page, in the meantime, to see if you can find any event(s) to reflect the changes you described. 

Keep me posted on your progress!