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Forum Discussion
My files were deleted, but not everything is coming back, in order to restore them. Why?
Just logged into Dropbox and all my files are deleted. Have most definitely not deleted them myself. I have 2FA on. No sign in notifications received on date that files appear to have been deleted. S...
Hi Flipperchick, yes, desktop means that the deletion was coming from your device.
Now, a few things to ask yourself, and that could have ended up in a deletion is: Did your device experience any hard disk problems around the time of the deletions?
Specifically, do you remember the Dropbox application ending unexpectedly while you were performing changes to your Dropbox? These changes could have that result.
Are you running antivirus software? Antivirus software can occasionally quarantine files. If these files were in your Dropbox, they could have been removed and as a result show as being deleted.
Is your Dropbox in any way pointing towards a non-local disk source such as a network drive or an external drive? If the drive is ever disconnected from the computer while Dropbox is running there is a small chance that the Dropbox software will start deleting files before realizing that the entire drive has been removed.
In any case, we can't exactly identify how the deletion happened, just where it happened from. We're glad you got your content back!
Interesting, I never knew about this Dropbox.com/events option, as I am an infrequent user. It showed that I deleted all my files myself! I just have absolutely no idea how I could possibly have done this. I am under quite a bit of stress at the moment as my mother is in her final days, and my brain is a bit scrambled. However, I genuinely have no idea how I could possibly have deleted the entire contents of my Dropbox in one fell swoop without warning, or being aware of it. I only know how to delete files one at a time.
Hannah
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHey Flipperchick, I'm really sorry to hear about all this..
Regarding the deletions, now that you've restored the files, what you could do for some additional info, is to check the version history of those files.
There, you should be able to see which computer they were deleted from and when.
The original uploads were from 'web' (which I know I did) and the deletion was from 'desktop' and the reinstatement was from 'web' (which I know that I did). Have no idea what 'desktop' means, other than I assume that it's my computer. Sorry I am not very tech savvy.
- Megan
Hi Flipperchick, yes, desktop means that the deletion was coming from your device.
Now, a few things to ask yourself, and that could have ended up in a deletion is: Did your device experience any hard disk problems around the time of the deletions?
Specifically, do you remember the Dropbox application ending unexpectedly while you were performing changes to your Dropbox? These changes could have that result.
Are you running antivirus software? Antivirus software can occasionally quarantine files. If these files were in your Dropbox, they could have been removed and as a result show as being deleted.
Is your Dropbox in any way pointing towards a non-local disk source such as a network drive or an external drive? If the drive is ever disconnected from the computer while Dropbox is running there is a small chance that the Dropbox software will start deleting files before realizing that the entire drive has been removed.
In any case, we can't exactly identify how the deletion happened, just where it happened from. We're glad you got your content back!
Thank you for your comprehensive reply. I still have no idea how I managed to do it, as I answered 'No' to all of your suggestions. But needless to say that I have been in a bit of a brain fog with my Mother dying and in her final days. Hopefully it won't happen again.
