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Forum Discussion
deleted folder re appeared after a couple of years
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 wonde...
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.
Ross_S
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffThanks 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.
Thanks Ross,
We are glad Dropbox patched this problem. I have two short queries and hoping that you can reply.
I am sure some serious users may be having these questions on their minds too.
- For people having lots of folders, how to ensure that all the "un-dead" files & folders are purged. Right now the events section does not tell me any details if anything popped up.
- Has Dropbox ensured that previous versions of the file were not accidentally restored over legitimate files in their most recent versions.
The second question is more relevant since we have maybe worked on many files over the months & years and updated them with newer versions. Just because dropbox managed to revert all the zombie additions isnt enough. We have to be certain that the versions were right and/or they didn't delete legit file entirely from the folder index because it was affected i.e files missing because they were affected by the bug.
When we have several thousand files totalling to several GB's it is very hard to go and check them individually. We can't be even sure if the bug has been entirely quashed. Your response (even if bit technical) can help restore some faith in the bugfix.
- For people having lots of folders, how to ensure that all the "un-dead" files & folders are purged. Right now the events section does not tell me any details if anything popped up.
I am still seeing them - not sure how long the fix will take to be implemented?
Ross,
I have the same question asked by:
Ross, thanks for this. One thing, its unclear how to identify all those files that have reappeared. There are obvious top level folders that have reappeared, but how do I find files that may have reappeared somewhere inside a valid top level folder (that is a folders that was correctly in my dropbox just before the bug) if I have 100Ks of valid files and folders in my dropbox?
Can you give some more guidance on how to identify them? Or does this bug only put these reappearing files and folders at the top level of my dropbox?
This happened to me too. All of a sudden a really old (at that time shared with another account) folder reappeared. From 2011 circa. Several gigabytes.
The link to contact Support isn't working. Many of my folders & files seem to have been deleted (not by me), then restored incompletely. The files that were restored appeared in unusual places in my account. I am still missing hundreds of files. Could you please extend the 30 day file recovery period so affected users such as myself have some time to figure out what files are still missing? My entire account is a mess because of this, and shared folders have caused even more problems.
- EdHi there -
This seems to be a separate issue and I'd recommend contacting support again (replying to your existing ticket) to continue the support on it.
The issue raised on this thread was specific to what Ross has responded and has ben resolved already. I'll go ahead and close this thread but you're welcome to initiate new discussions if you see new issues that the community can help you with.
Thanks!
