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Re: deleted folder re appeared after a couple of years

deleted folder re appeared after a couple of years

alex b.35
Explorer | Level 4
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Something very weird just happened with my dropbox account. Out of nowhere, a folder which was deletec about 2 years ago re appeared on my dropbox. It has the files as they were, which makes me wonder why the hell dropbox is still keeping these files after a few years that they have been deleted?

 

First I thought it was a hack, but then I checked all my devices and what was accessing my account and indeed, everything was as it was before.

 

It makes me think this is a serious bug and on another note, why the hell is dropbox keeping data that was deleted 2 years ago?

 

I'll surprised, scared and angry at the same time. I'm not even sure where to begin! I'm now wondering about several of my clients that use dropbox in their business if the same happens.

116 Replies 116

feklee
Helpful | Level 6
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See screenshot below – I got in contact with support concerning the issue. Yesterday’s response, after waiting for about a week: “At the current moment we are not able to disclose the information you requested regarding the bug as we are still investigating this issue.”

 

Can anyone here tell me when files and folders have mysteriously reappeared?

 

I would like to compare old backups to see whether my account is affected.

 

Screenshot of fruitless conversation with Dropbox support

Ross_S
Dropbox Staff
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Hi there,

 

Appologies for that, the information there is not correct, this bug is infact resolved, as I mentioned in my previous post. We'll reach back out to you by email and clarify any further questions you have.

 

Many thanks.

feklee
Helpful | Level 6
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Four days ago I finally got an email from Luke, member of the Dropbox application specialist team: “While some of our users were affected by the described bug I want to be clear, you were not affected. None of your data was no recently restored and there is nothing to worry about here.”

 

That's what I wanted to know. So the issue is resolved for me.

jduffeytx
Explorer | Level 3
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@Ross S. - Old files reappeared in my Dropbox folder spanning the past 5 years. In trying to figure out the reason I came across this thread. Your post says the bug has been resolved, but in my case it seems to have taken effect in the past 24-48 hours. The link to technical support is no longer working, but I have sent in a request using the Contact Us page.

jduffeytx
Explorer | Level 3
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This is the response I got from Dropbox, essentially telling me I am the reason old files are reappearing. How could this person not acknowledge the bug that this entire thread is devoted to???? Very frustrating!

Casey, Feb 15, 8:01 AM PST:
Hi Jeff,

Thank you for contacting Dropbox Support.

Reappearing files and folders usually occur because one or more of the computers that are synced are still accessing the folders. If you delete them, an application on another computer recreates them to continue working on the files.

To solve this issue, you should delete the file or folder from the Dropbox folder on the computer that's recreating the file. You can see which computer has re-added the file by going to the website and checking previous versions of the file.

The instructions for checking a file's version history can be viewed here:

https://www.dropbox.com/help/11

Please note that you can only view the previous version of files not folders. If you have a reappearing folder, you'll need to open the folder until you locate a file, so that you can view the previous version of the file within the folder.

Thank you!

Regards,
Casey

BackMeUp
Helpful | Level 5
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The link to contact Support isn't working.  Many of my folders & files seem to have been deleted (not by me), then restored incompletely.  The files that were restored appeared in unusual places in my account.  I am still missing hundreds of files.  Could you please extend the 30 day file recovery period so affected users such as myself have some time to figure out what files are still missing?  My entire account is a mess because of this, and shared folders have caused even more problems. 

Ed
Dropbox Staff
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Hi there -
This seems to be a separate issue and I'd recommend contacting support again (replying to your existing ticket) to continue the support on it.

The issue raised on this thread was specific to what Ross has responded and has ben resolved already. I'll go ahead and close this thread but you're welcome to initiate new discussions if you see new issues that the community can help you with.

Thanks!



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


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