Logged into my account and all my files are missing

[Lazman1140]

I've had a drop box subscription for a few years and at renewal, December 1st, 2022, I upgraded to DropBox Plus. Last week I had a blue-screen issue on my Desktop and took it to a repairman. He saved, documents, then (I suppose) cleared the hard drive, and then he reloaded Windows Home 10. When I got my computer back, I noticed I was missing programs - Reaper and Bluebeam. I was annoyed but not too concerned because I had purchase receipts and licenses stored in Dropbox. Then I noticed that Drop Box desktop short-cut was missing. I tried to log-in to DropBox but couldn't remember my password, so the DropBox Chat agent or bot sent me a password reset link. I used that to open DropBox, but all my files are missing. I paid a full year subscription in advance expecting secure cloud storage, but all my stored documents are gone  ... very important documents for which there are no or very limited hard copies. Does anyone know how I can recover my old account? Because it looks like my password reset started a new account.

[cyberita]

I only used Dropbox for collecting ukulele music. I collected around 1 GB of music over the years but haven't tried to access it for a couple of years. Today I logged on to add some new music and discovered that my free 2GB Dropbox storage was completely empty showing that I had 2GB of storage to use. Please tell me if I can somehow get my files back from somewhere?

[Rich]

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@cyberita wrote:

... haven't tried to access it for a couple of years. Today I logged on to add some new music and discovered that my free 2GB Dropbox storage was completely empty ...

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If the account was idle for more than a year it would have been deleted due to inactivity, and you're now signed in to a new, empty account. Unfortunately, once an account has been deleted, neither the account nor the files in it can be recovered.

[qtec]

I just logged into my account and all files are missing. Anyone know how to contact someone at Dropbox? 

[Hannah]

Sorry to hear that, @qtec.

Is it possible that you've logged in to a different Dropbox account and not the one that has all your files in it?

What do you see in your events page?

[Rich]

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@qtec wrote:

I just logged into my account and all files are missing.

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When was the last time you used the account?

[BilboBaggins67]

Hi I’ve had photos of the kids when they were younger stored on Dropbox for years yet just this month my account is empty. I have got a new phone is that why? How do I get my files back? Ignore the label none of them are relevant can’t post without one

[Rich]

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@BilboBaggins67 wrote:
... just this month my account is empty. I have got a new phone is that why?

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When was the last time you accessed the account? Could you have created a new account, instead of signing in to the existing one?

[BilboBaggins67]

I thought that might be the case but I’ve got emails from Dropbox in my gmail account from years ago so I think it’s the right email address. I couldn’t remember the password so that’s been changed but that shouldn’t affect it

[Mark]

How long ago did you last log in, however @BilboBaggins67 ?

If it was over 12 months the data is removed for inactivity and not recoverable. 

[BilboBaggins67]

I don’t keep records but it’s not been that long. Even if it was, it’s my data and I haven’t had a notification that anything was going to be deleted