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Forum Discussion
Many files not in cloud after removing & deleting client from former company's laptop
Hi this may be a popular question... I was using the free version of Dropbox to back up content from a few years back...work related stuff from a long-ago job. Nothing proprietary, but important ...
From what you've described, it isn't possible that the files were on the Dropbox site since there is no recent deletion or event history to show that the files were there.
If you're not seeing the missing files on the deleted files page, then there's a few possibilities as to why this might be the case:
- The files are on another Dropbox account
- They were on a shared folder you don't have access to any more
- The files were deleted outside of the 30 day period, and not two weeks ago
- The files were permanently deleted
Mark
Super User II
Super User IIHi TobyBaz
Unfortunately as they were deleted over 30 days ago its not possible to recover via Dropbox - even upgrading wont work as recovery windows are not retroactive.
The only hope is seeing if the files are still on the old device at all.
If these files were deleted and unrecoverable, then how were they still present on the cloud instance until 2 weeks ago?
I verified that the files were still present in the cloud before installing the desktop client on my new computer 2 weeks ago
- Mark
They cannot be on the cloud if that page shows they are deleted unless they were in a second location and so the ones you listed were deleted elsewhere.
ok...the work computer was offline (disconnected from the internet) when I removed the client and deleted all local content from it
the files were still in the cloud (same account, not a 2nd location) until 2 weeks ago...why isn't there a more recent record of their removal?
if I had a recent record of having these files being deleted, I could simply recover the deleted files
why can we not revert the cloud instance back to what it contained 2 weeks ago?
- Jay
Dropbox Staff
Hi TobyBaz, according to the screenshot, the last copy of those files would've been deleted over 30 days, which means it wouldn't be possible to recover the files. 2 weeks ago would still be outside of the 30 day recovery period.
Being able to see the recent activity in the Dropbox desktop application doesn't mean that it's possible to recover the deleted files.
I'm sorry I can't be more helpful on this matter.
