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Forum Discussion
my files disappeared.
I installed the dropbox on my MAC and it automatically uploaded some files.
However when I entered the dropbox, it is not there. it is an important file and I cannot miss it. Can someone help me? ...
I am missing years of files, none of which I selected for deletion.
Is Dropbox arbitrarily deleting files without notice?
Is there a work around?
Good grief.
- Hannah
Dropbox Staff
Hey PatrickVB, sorry to hear about this.
Dropbox won't delete your files, but here's a list of reasons why files might get deleted.
What does your deleted files page and your events page show?
Hi Hannah,
Thank you for the very speedy response.
No one else has access to my files, and Dropbox is very good about alerting me to someone else signing onto my account—so something is literally amiss!
Many of my files are missing and unretrievable 30/180/365 days; I did not delete them, and from what I see on this forum and the (questionable) internet searches, others have experienced similar deletions.
Under what circumstances would Dropbox delete files, or is there a potential syncing issue from old to new devices?
Patrick
- Hannah
Hey Patrick.
Dropbox wouldn't actually delete your files; a deletion is usually either caused by the users (perhaps accidentally) or some kind of hard drive issue.
Did you recently have any hard drive issues?
What kind of files did you lose? Just files you had manually stored in your account or desktop files that you backed up to Dropbox using Dropbox backup?
And most importantly, what do the deleted files and events pages show?
I have the same issue PatrickVB
- Jay
Hi APSN, if you're not seeing the missing files on the events page or 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
- The files were permanently deleted
Please could you check the above to try to locate the files.
Hi Jay,
Thank you so much for your reply. We only have one account. I have checked with all the other people who share the files (there are only 3 others) and they don't have access either. The account is in my name and I have had it for many years. We didn't delete any files at all. The last time we used it (due to the Christmas break) was on the 12th-13th Dec. when we uploaded a meeting and attendance reports. It was only yesterday when I needed our logo to put in a presentation I am working on, that I realised there is nothing there. There were 3 files left that were not in folders. The only other thing that is there are the empty folders. This is a total disaster for us. All of our stuff is in there and our funding, among other things could be affected by this.
Many thanks,
Mary
