deleted folder re appeared after a couple of years

alex b.35 · ‎01-18-2017

Something very weird just happened with my dropbox account. Out of nowhere, a folder which was deletec about 2 years ago re appeared on my dropbox. It has the files as they were, which makes me wonder why the hell dropbox is still keeping these files after a few years that they have been deleted?

First I thought it was a hack, but then I checked all my devices and what was accessing my account and indeed, everything was as it was before.

It makes me think this is a serious bug and on another note, why the hell is dropbox keeping data that was deleted 2 years ago?

I'll surprised, scared and angry at the same time. I'm not even sure where to begin! I'm now wondering about several of my clients that use dropbox in their business if the same happens.

Ross_S · ‎01-22-2017

Thanks everyone for your patience while we worked on a way to clean up the inadvertently restored files and folders. We've built a fix that will automatically return this content to the way it should be: deleted and out of your Dropbox. This will only impact the inadvertently restored files and folders, and only if you haven’t updated them. We’ll begin rolling out the fix to affected users’ accounts later today. We’re giving you a heads up here so you’re aware of why there may be changes to your Dropbox. Here’s a bit more information about the fix.

Will this affect my other files?
The fix will only impact the inadvertently restored files and folders. If you have edited the files or folders—by moving them or updating the content inside—they will stay in your Dropbox. You can still manually delete these files and folders if you don’t want them.

What if I don’t want these files or folders removed?
While the fix will automatically take effect later today, you can contact our support team (dropbox.com/support) within 30 days and we’ll restore the files and folders for you. You won’t be able to restore on your own using the events page.

Do I need to do anything?
We will automatically roll out the fix, you don’t need to do a thing. If you have questions or concerns, please write our support team at http://bit.ly/cm-support so that we can investigate your specific case. Your ticket will be prioritized by the team.

Thanks again for your patience, and we’re sorry for any inconvenience and confusion we’ve caused.

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emilg · ‎01-13-2017

I installed dropbox earlier tonight and I allowed it to do a full sync with my local folder. When I checked it out as it was close to finishing I found 2 extra folders in there.

They are so old I initially didn't even recognize them. Took me a couple of minutes to realize they're a couple of folders with project files from about 6-7 years ago, so extremely old.

I checked the event viewer and it tells me that I added those 2 folders 47 minutes ago ( about the time when I started dropbox after I installed it ).

Has this happened to anyone else ? I assume there's nothing to worry about but the whole thing just seemed somewhat surreal initially to be honest.

Rich · ‎01-13-2017

Was there an existing Dropbox folder already on that computer from a previous installation? If so, when you linked the computer to your account it may have reused the existing folder and anything in it would have been uploaded to your Dropbox account as if it were new.

emilg · ‎01-13-2017

no, definitely not. i haven't had those files in any computer of mine since ... 6-7 years ago when the project ended.

Rich · ‎01-13-2017

They were either on the computer or still in your account. There's no way for old files to just reappear unless they still existed on a device that was linked back to your account.

Look at the previous version information for one of the files and it will tell you the account and computer that it originated from.

emilg · ‎01-13-2017

just looked and a couple of more folders appeared. same deal. from 6-7 years ago.

can't see version history. i get an error.

and no ... there's absolutely NO WAY these could have been on the computer. i've changed 5-6 computers in the past 5-6 years and those files were deleted way back then when i finished the projects. i also deleted them from dropbox at that point ... but somehow they dug their way out i guess ... :))

femkemarcar · ‎01-18-2017

Suddenly this morning very old folders I deleted ages ago are back in my dropbox folder both online as on my computer. Hoew did this happen en can I just delete them? My newest folders seem to be fine.

Best, Femke

clumsybiker · ‎01-18-2017

I just received a new folder in my DropBox - it is called "Shared".

It contains a single zero-byte text file named "Shared with Matt.txt"

Dropbox's desktop agent did *not* show any notification that this had happened. Neither did it prompt me to accept the share (normally you get to accept a share by clicking "Add To Dropbox"???)

Windows 10 Action Centre (the alerts pane that appears on the bottom-right *did* give me a notification. That notification was:
"DropBox Server (DS) has shared a folder with you". Again there was no option to accept this, it just happened.

Finally, the new folder that has appeared does not appear to be shared with anyone else, and the text file inside it is dated from 2010.

I have a (very!) dim recollection I *might* have created this file myself (but 6 years ago??) so I'm wondering:

a - is this some DropBox bug that's recreating old deleted stuff from years ago (and if so why does my notification come from "DropBox Server?)

b - this is the prelude to some kind of hack / attack (maybe tomorrow someone will "share" a malicious executable with me expecting me to run it?

tijsboom · ‎01-18-2017

I'm using dropbox for quite some time. Never had problems.

All of a sudden it starts syncing old maps.

When I remove them from dropbox (for example by putting them on my computer or even in the trash), they return automatically.

clumsybiker · ‎01-18-2017

update - as a precaution I've changed password and cancelled any pre-existing sessions/connections to my account and re-entered the new password on all my devices. Still be interested to understand what might have happened though!

deleted folder re appeared after a couple of years

deleted folder re appeared after a couple of years

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