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currentcapital's avatar
currentcapital
Helpful | Level 6
8 years ago

Randomly deleted files and folders

Anyone else experiencing files and folders being deleted from Dropbox without human intervention?   I know that I'm going to get the stock Dropbox answer here that it can't happen, but I can expl...
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  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    7 years ago
     
    Hey Daz, 
     
    Welcome to the Dropbox Community, let me send over some tips below regarding your inquiry and we’ll take it from there! 
     
     SKBJ ‘s reply could point you towards the right direction, though you may need to dig deeper, depending on the behavior you’ve noticed. 
     
    Firstly, as Dropbox syncs any files added to it, a virus or malicious software would get updated to all computers linked to the account accordingly. If the virus or malicious software is in a shared folder, shared folder members and computers may also be affected. That being said, I’d strongly recommend removing it as soon as possible, as it’ll definitely create more issues in the long run. 
     
    Secondly, it recently came to attention that connecting or pointing external locations (i.e. Symlinking them) to your Dropbox folder might cause unexpected behavior, so it may appear to you as if files are randomly deleted. That being said, I’d advise you to have a look intro this as well, just as a possible scenario. 
     
    Regardless of the cause, if you need further clarifications or you’d like your account reverted back to a particular point in time, my advice would be to reach out directly to our team, who’ll guide you through the necessary steps and actions you’d need to take, so as to revert back to normal operations. 
     
    If you decide to go per my advice above, you may keep in mind that I’m always here to pursue a resolution, so please let me know a ticket ID I could reference in your next reply. 
     
    I’m looking forward to hearing back from you on this discussion! 
Atmosphere's avatar
Atmosphere
Explorer | Level 4
4 years ago

I have a Dropbox Business account and logged in today to find I'd lost over 50TB worth of files (within sub folders) from one of my team folders. Everything else seems untouched.

 

I tried the folder rewind function and it didn't work. Even if one of my team had accidentally deleted the files they should still be recoverable with the rewind function.????

 

One of my linked iMacs has 8TB in the "old_files" folder in the cache which were synced to that drive, but obviously not accessible now.

 

There is nothing in the "Activity" & "Events" sections to show that files have even been deleted, they have just vanished. There is nothing in the "deleted files" section too.

 

And the insights tab clearly shows a severe drop in used space;

 

 

It is impossible to contact support on the weekend, the closest I got was to a sales rep who was very dismissive, and I think may have accidentally swore at me;

 

This is so frustrating, not only to lose the files, but to not be able to contact support on the weekend. My business relies heavily on this folder and I am desperate to recover it ASAP.

 

Has anyone else experienced disappearing files like this? How did you recover them?

  • Megan's avatar
    Megan
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    4 years ago
    Hey Atmosphere, I'm sorry to hear about this large deletion, let's work together on resolving it!

    As you noted the Rewind function sometimes may not work, if a deletion is very large, or if it has mixed events in it (moves, deletions etc) but in any case we are always here to help.

    Our Support Team is indeed working only on weekdays, and not weekends but you should be able to contact them about this issue today, using this page.

    I would also suggest you check your Events' page if you wish to have a clear idea on what might have happened. The Events page at gives you an overview of all activity in your account including files events (adds/edits/deletes), as well as adding or removing shared folders. 

    Lastly, was this folder a shared one? If yes, can you also check the Sharing page on the web, to see if you have the option to add the folder? 

    I’m looking forward to hearing back from you on this discussion!

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