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currentcapital's avatar
currentcapital
Helpful | Level 6
8 years ago

Randomly deleted files and folders

Anyone else experiencing files and folders being deleted from Dropbox without human intervention?   I know that I'm going to get the stock Dropbox answer here that it can't happen, but I can expl...
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  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    7 years ago
     
    Hey Daz, 
     
    Welcome to the Dropbox Community, let me send over some tips below regarding your inquiry and we’ll take it from there! 
     
     SKBJ ‘s reply could point you towards the right direction, though you may need to dig deeper, depending on the behavior you’ve noticed. 
     
    Firstly, as Dropbox syncs any files added to it, a virus or malicious software would get updated to all computers linked to the account accordingly. If the virus or malicious software is in a shared folder, shared folder members and computers may also be affected. That being said, I’d strongly recommend removing it as soon as possible, as it’ll definitely create more issues in the long run. 
     
    Secondly, it recently came to attention that connecting or pointing external locations (i.e. Symlinking them) to your Dropbox folder might cause unexpected behavior, so it may appear to you as if files are randomly deleted. That being said, I’d advise you to have a look intro this as well, just as a possible scenario. 
     
    Regardless of the cause, if you need further clarifications or you’d like your account reverted back to a particular point in time, my advice would be to reach out directly to our team, who’ll guide you through the necessary steps and actions you’d need to take, so as to revert back to normal operations. 
     
    If you decide to go per my advice above, you may keep in mind that I’m always here to pursue a resolution, so please let me know a ticket ID I could reference in your next reply. 
     
    I’m looking forward to hearing back from you on this discussion! 
Jane's avatar
Jane
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
 
Hey Daz, 
 
Welcome to the Dropbox Community, let me send over some tips below regarding your inquiry and we’ll take it from there! 
 
 SKBJ ‘s reply could point you towards the right direction, though you may need to dig deeper, depending on the behavior you’ve noticed. 
 
Firstly, as Dropbox syncs any files added to it, a virus or malicious software would get updated to all computers linked to the account accordingly. If the virus or malicious software is in a shared folder, shared folder members and computers may also be affected. That being said, I’d strongly recommend removing it as soon as possible, as it’ll definitely create more issues in the long run. 
 
Secondly, it recently came to attention that connecting or pointing external locations (i.e. Symlinking them) to your Dropbox folder might cause unexpected behavior, so it may appear to you as if files are randomly deleted. That being said, I’d advise you to have a look intro this as well, just as a possible scenario. 
 
Regardless of the cause, if you need further clarifications or you’d like your account reverted back to a particular point in time, my advice would be to reach out directly to our team, who’ll guide you through the necessary steps and actions you’d need to take, so as to revert back to normal operations. 
 
If you decide to go per my advice above, you may keep in mind that I’m always here to pursue a resolution, so please let me know a ticket ID I could reference in your next reply. 
 
I’m looking forward to hearing back from you on this discussion! 
Watts H.'s avatar
Watts H.
Helpful | Level 6
7 years ago

DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME TRYING TO GET HELP FROM DROPBOX. 

 

I provided coherent descriptions to 3 or 4 different "I want to help you..." tech support people, each of whom I either never heard from again, or who responded in ways that indicated that they had paid no attention to what I had reported or asked.  The extent of their incompetence would have been comical if I hadn't been terrified I'd lost data and what remaining I had might not be safe (disconnect from Dropbox for fear the system is randomly screwing things up?) 

 

Literally, after weeks of attempts to get them to trace down why critical data had been inexplicably modified with no action by me (at 3-4 am my time, with all my devices powered down and disconnected from the web and me asleep...), NOT ONE COHERENT RESPONSE.

 

Then, after weeks of frustration, and no help from Dropbox, the folders/files that had been altered/moved by something/someone other than me (and my devices...), magically appeared to move themselves back to where they had been.  But, I, because of dropbox's incompetence, to this day I have no way of knowing if anything was lost (I have a huge subdirectory tree, with thousands of folders and tens of thousands of files...).  

 

CONCLUSION:  data is not secure on dropbox -- workable as a daily backup and web accessable storage mirror, but NOT SAFE FOR SAVING/ARCHIVING ANYTHING YOU CAN'T AFFORD TO LOSE.

 

I will be arranging an archivable backup separate from Drobox.  

  • softmatter's avatar
    softmatter
    New member | Level 2
    7 years ago

    I am having the same issues.  It all started after I did the update promising "SmartSyncing".  What a joke.  They 've never been able to get my files restored on my work computer for months.  I got a total runaround from different tech support personnel. 
    Seriously, everyone needs to reconsider using this platform until Dropbox makes it work.  They are releasing sub-beta code at this point and not providing anywhere near adequate tech support when problems emerge.  You can lose data and not even know what you've lost, as this person says!

  • sibu12345's avatar
    sibu12345
    Explorer | Level 4
    7 years ago

    I'm quite pissed too. 

     

    I was finally going to get back into writing my dairy on Handy Dairy and wanted to revisit my previous entries. Gone. All gone and there's no way I'd simply delete my only backup to my year's worth of memories.

     

    Wew I regret not making a copy and giving dropbox my trust. I'm currently contacting support. Report for file recovery has a mandatory for a link to your events. I waited 20 minutes to load my events and it's loading as I type. I had to resort to reporting problems for others :/

     

    In my case it's only 1 file or something. I just hope they actually find it and recover it somehow. Even if it's magically without giving me a proper reply. I'll just probe them every 3 days or so haha.

     

    I'm worried I won't be able to get back my Dairy entries since I'm just a free user. And have to probe as hard as Watts H. to find out that I can't get it back wew. I hope they get it back for me soon or something hahaha wishful thinking amirite

  • sibu12345's avatar
    sibu12345
    Explorer | Level 4
    7 years ago

    Update: (I guess?).

    Been through the emails and all and it seems like they recovered my files. Luckily enough they could restore my backup. The scary part is if you're like Watts.H where he has thousands of files missing.

     

    This was what they requested when restoring my files: 


    In order for me to investigate this issue further, can you please kindly provide me with the following information:

    • Two to three specific examples of exact filenames of files that need to be recovered, please do not provide folder names. Please also make sure that the file names include the extension of the file, like .docx, .pdf, etc.
    • Dates of the deletions or changes.

    So yeah. If you have multiple files, unless you can remember their name, it seems like you're gone. Cause luckily enough the app zips it up as "diary_backup.zip" which makes it way easier for them to restore.

     

    The date I just gave a random one all the way back from 1/1/2017 since I didn't delete any files and that was around when I last remembered using it. Without those it's probably a good luck but yeah. Lucky me I guess?

     

    I'm a free user and well, it was pretty pleasant that I got my files back, albeit over a week of like 7 emails since I sent the ticket from the wrong account. I'll be backing up on separate backups from now on but I got my files back anyways.

     

    A shout out to Kate who handled the ticket and Samuel who restored my files. Good luck to the rest of you guys

  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    7 years ago
    Thanks for keeping us updated on the progress here sibu12345, we’re glad to hear that this has now been resolved for you & you got your files back. I’ve made sure to notify my colleagues on your positive experience & the shoutout here. 
     
    Please feel free to check back with us again here at any time if you have further inquiries in the future & I hope you have a wonderful weekend ahead! 
     
    [This thread is now closed. If you're experiencing a similar behavior, feel free to start a new discussion in the Find Answers section here. ]

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