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YS1's avatar
YS1
Explorer | Level 4
6 years ago

My files are permanently deleted, what can I do?

one of my dropbox linked computers got infected by Ransomware. on that PC, only ONE folder is synchronized with the cloud ("selective sync"). it was a small folder, not a big issue. but, and i do...
Restore
  • Daphne's avatar
    Daphne
    6 years ago
    Hey there YS1,
     
    I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but if you have permanently deleted all of your files from your Dropbox account then they would be unrecoverable from our end. As permanent deletions can only be done through the website, it seems highly unlikely that this occurred due to ransomware as this would only affect your local computer and its files. To actually permanently delete files, you would need to first deleted them from your account and then navigate to the Deleted files page online and choose to permanently delete the files from there.
     
    When permanently deleting a file from your account, the file is purged from our servers so it is expected to not be able to see these events via your Deleted files or Events page, as there is no longer a record of them on our servers. If the files were simply deleted then they would show up in both locations. 
     
    However, that being said, is it possible that you have signed into a different account via the web? You can check the email address of the account you are currently signed into from your Settings page here. 
     
    Also, do you perhaps have another computer that is connected to your Dropbox account that has all the files synced locally? If so, I would recommend to unlink this account from your Security page online before turning on that computer. Unlinking the device will stop it connecting to your Dropbox account and then syncing the deletion of the files, this way you can recover the files from the Dropbox folder.
     
    I hope this helps to clarify the matter, let me know if you have any other questions - Thanks!
Daphne's avatar
Daphne
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
Hey there YS1,
 
I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but if you have permanently deleted all of your files from your Dropbox account then they would be unrecoverable from our end. As permanent deletions can only be done through the website, it seems highly unlikely that this occurred due to ransomware as this would only affect your local computer and its files. To actually permanently delete files, you would need to first deleted them from your account and then navigate to the Deleted files page online and choose to permanently delete the files from there.
 
When permanently deleting a file from your account, the file is purged from our servers so it is expected to not be able to see these events via your Deleted files or Events page, as there is no longer a record of them on our servers. If the files were simply deleted then they would show up in both locations. 
 
However, that being said, is it possible that you have signed into a different account via the web? You can check the email address of the account you are currently signed into from your Settings page here. 
 
Also, do you perhaps have another computer that is connected to your Dropbox account that has all the files synced locally? If so, I would recommend to unlink this account from your Security page online before turning on that computer. Unlinking the device will stop it connecting to your Dropbox account and then syncing the deletion of the files, this way you can recover the files from the Dropbox folder.
 
I hope this helps to clarify the matter, let me know if you have any other questions - Thanks!
dcraig's avatar
dcraig
New member | Level 2
6 years ago

I had a similar experience of a hacker gaining access to my account and deleting a large number of critical files.

I'm absolutely baffled that Dropbox regards this as a non-event with respect to account activity. I understand that once the files are permanently removed they can't be referred to, but that doesn't prevent there being some audit trail of the activity! Simple saying "10,723 files were permanently deleted on Aug-07-2019" would be immensely useful in determining when and what happened.

An EVEN BETTER FEATURE would be to require re-authentication (or have a setting to optionally require such) whenever files are permanently deleted. That would be real security for customers.

Needless to say, I'm currently researching alternatives to Dropbox now that might better protect my files. I've always been happy with with Dropbox, but this has really shaken me. I thought there being no trail of 10K files being deleted was a sneaky hack; I had no idea it was a Dropbox "feature."

P.S. I was able to recover many files from an offline machine's Dropbox cache (they'd already been "removed" from their folder) but this was far from an ideal recovery given that the folder structure doesn't exist and filenames have been changed by the system.

  • Doc79602's avatar
    Doc79602
    Explorer | Level 3
    5 years ago

    does dropbox take over files on computer... I can not access any of my ITunes library now... I accidently got into Dropbox and hit wrong command on set up and Dropbox appears to have linked a lot of files... and I don't understand how to use or get access.  when I go to Itunes it says " The " name of song " cant be used because the original file can't be found".

         Can I safely unistall this terrible software and get my original files on my hard drive back to what they were before I tried to use DropBox.

    • Walter's avatar
      Walter
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
      5 years ago

      Hey there Doc79602; thanks for joining our Community!

       

      It looks like you've enabled the computer backup feature upon installing our desktop app on your device. 

       

      Could you have a look at the relevant Help Center article and let us know if it helps improve matters for you? 

       

      Keep us posted on your progress. 

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