Can I recover lost files after Dropbox update?

[jpthurston]

I use a Macbook pro and recently updated to Sonoma. I discovered a week after this update that Dropbox had stopped syncing after the update occurred. I mistakenly thought that my Time Machine backup would have a backup of my Dropbox folder if there was any file loss when I reinstalled. There was file loss... everything I worked on within the week between the OS update and the Dropbox reinstall is gone, and I am only now discovering that Time Machine did NOT in fact backup anything in my Dropbox folder. I don't quite understand the point of this and it's very upsetting. Maybe it's a Time Machine issue and I need to find another backup method for my Dropbox folders going forward, but the fact remains that I lost a lot of files (which frankly IS a Dropbox issue because there was an existing Dropbox folder *with files in it* that were not synced and the reinstall of Dropbox should have somehow checked for this).

Is there any way for me to recover the local files that were in my Dropbox folder that were not synced prior to my update of Dropbox? 

[Mark]

Hi @jpthurston 

Unfortunately unless you tell Dropbox when you install, or, it detects Dropbox installs it will create a new directory. As they are not in the Dropbox folder and not sync'd to Dropbox (I assume nothing was showing at www.dropbox.com/events) it isnt possible to get them back - they were wiped when you wiped the drive. As they were not in 'the' Dropbox folder (i.e. one syncing) Dropbox doesnt even know they exist 😞

[jpthurston]

For future reference, how would I have told Dropbox when I installed not to erase those files? I wasn't prompted for it if I recall. Should I have renamed that folder to keep it from being overwritten?

Also is there a failsafe setting somewhere in Dropbox to have it notify me if my files have stopped syncing? I only noticed it had stopped when my camera uploads from my phone were no longer being downloaded to my local drive from the cloud. 

And this may be a Mac question, but do you have any idea why Time Machine completely ignores the Dropbox local files when it runs a backup?

[Mark]

Dropbox wont have erased the files - it would have created a second \Dropbox directory. You probably didnt notice initially as it would have downloaded/populated again from the web so it would LOOK like it had everything. In fact though you'd have had 2 copies. 

There isnt a notification as such to say its stopped syncing, but, in this case Dropbox hadnt stopped syncing - it was syncing fine.... just to a directory you werent using. It would have a different icon if it stopped.

And as for TM, no, its not something I've ever looked at or used - even though I use a Mac.

[jpthurston]

I just wanted to post once more to share that I found a backup of my files. They were saved in 
/Users/[username]/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox (1-27-24 2:11 PM)

I don't know what service causes this backup to occur, but whatever it is saved my bacon.