Image appears to be corrupted

[cloudres]

Hi everyone,

for the first time I find myself managing a seemingly corrupted file synced on DropBox. It's a small, low-resolution image, fortunately not essential and also saved elsewhere. But it remains a question mark for me. I would like to understand in these cases how to proceed to recover the document.

And also, how can I find out if there are other files in my DropBox space in this state? I ask because usually these things are discovered only at the last minute, when those files are really needed. I would like to be proactive, that's why.

Thank you!

[Jay]

Hi @cloudres, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

How small is the image exactly, in terms of resolution and file size?

This will help me to assist further!

[cloudres]

It is a file of about 368 kb. The dimensions are 1826x2736. I have tried to look at the previous versions of the file, but I cannot view the preview in any case.

Thanks!

[Walter]

Hey @cloudres, sorry to jump in, but could you let us know how you uploaded the file in the first place?

Have you tried restoring a previous version of the file to see if you can view it then? 

Also, were you able to preview this file normally on our website before? 

Any additional information you can share is more than welcome!

[cloudres]

Sure, I'll try to be as thorough as possible.

The file is contained within several subfolders. In the folder where the specific file is located, there are many other images. So it is the only file in this particular path. Obviously, the other images work.

As I mentioned, I tried to view the file from the previews that are offered during the restore of the single file, but without actually restoring it.

Of course, I tried to view the preview on both the computer and the DropBox website. Then I tried to download it, put it "online only", and download it again, but predictably nothing happened.

When I put it "online only", I noticed that DropBox tried to sync it for about an hour, repeatedly, but without obviously succeeding since it seems to be corrupt. In the end, a popup appeared in which the DropBox app informed me that the file cannot be deleted from the Mac.

One last thing. The file was added to DropBox along with many other files, by copying and pasting various folders. So the action was a copy and paste. But in any case, it is strange that everything is visible, except for this image.

What else? I think I've said everything...

[Megan]

Hi @cloudres, thanks for the added info! 

After uploading the file to your account, did you ever try to preview it before, or was it the first time? 

I'm asking, because it seems this file must have been corrupted from the start. If the file wasn't able to preview online for whatever reason, but wasn't corrupt, you would be able to view it on the desktop app, or upon downloading it. 

Also, can you try restoring to one of the previous versions, just to see the results you get?  

[cloudres]

I restored the file to the first version and the problem was solved. Now I can see it normally! Thanks for supporting me. So this means that it must have become corrupted over time.

Million-dollar question: how can I prevent this from happening on more important documents?

[Jay]

There isn't a specific reason why this could've occurred to this file. Since you saw the version history, were there any edits made to the file that could've corrupted it at some point?

[cloudres]

Honestly, no changes have been made. None at all. Since the folder was copied there and uploaded online, that file has never been modified.

[Hannah · Accepted solution]

Hey @cloudres, so if you were able to restore the file to a previous version, that means that the file was edited at some point, for it to have a newer one.

If it was only edited once, that action is what might have caused it to be corrupted.

If you see in the version history that it's been edited more than once, I'd suggest you save a copy of the version that works and then keep restoring older versions, to find out which one caused the corruption, if that makes sense.