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Files disappeared from my Dropbox folder & it seems that more than 100K files were deleted.

The problem started yesterday. I noticed some files were missing from local synced files as well as the web interface. This morning more files disappeared. I checked the Deleted Files folder. It appears that close to 100,000 files were deleted at the same time yesterday afternoon, which I absolutely did not do. I have a Basic account with limited support. Can someone enlighten me on how to solve this problem? Thank you in advance!

p.s. I am an IT professional and have been using Dropbox for many years without issues. I am confident it is not a new user issue.

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Rich

@Alan W.12 wrote:
One of them says "You deleted 48940 files" with a link to those files. ... I did not delete those files.

It may not have been you directly, but something on a device of yours initiated the deletion. Have you moved any folders lately? That would often show as a mass-deletion in Dropbox (Dropbox detects that a folder no longer exists where it once was and marks it as deleted). Or have you run any clean up utilities on your computer that may have organized or removed files?

If you restore one of the files and look at its version history, it will show you the specific device that the deletion occurred on. Look to that device for a possible cause.

Is there a support department I can reach out to?

You can find the support options that are available to you, which vary based on your account level, on the Support page.

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Rich

@Alan W.12 wrote:
It appears that close to 100,000 files were deleted at the same time yesterday afternoon, which I absolutely did not do.

Check your Events page and version history of one of the restored files. It will show you where the deletion occurred.

Alan W.12

Thanks for the reply! I did not know those pages existed. The event page shows several delete activities. One of them says "You deleted 48940 files" with a link to those files. After I clicked on the link, I saw a bunch of small files in the size of around 1kb shown as being deleted. It doesn't make sense. I did not delete those files. Is there a support department I can reach out to?

Rich

@Alan W.12 wrote:
One of them says "You deleted 48940 files" with a link to those files. ... I did not delete those files.

If you restore one of the files and look at its version history, it will show you the specific device that the deletion occurred on. Look to that device for a possible cause.

Is there a support department I can reach out to?

You can find the support options that are available to you, which vary based on your account level, on the Support page.

Alan W.12

Thanks! That's very helpful. I think I found the problem. An external drive, where Dropbox files are synced to, was disconnected from my desktop. The Dropbox client on my desktop probably thought that the files were deleted and started to delete them. A lesson is learned. Thank you for your help!

Rich

@Alan W.12 wrote:
An external drive, where Dropbox files are synced to, was disconnected from my desktop. The Dropbox client on my desktop probably thought that the files were deleted and started to delete them.

And this is THE reason why it's suggested that the Dropbox folder not be located on an external drive. If the drive disconnects while Dropbox is running, or isn't available when Dropbox starts, the missing Dropbox folder could be seen as a mass-deletion which would then sync to your account.

If you must store Dropbox on an external drive, do the sensible thing and create another regular backup. External drive are inexpensive. Losing data can be expensive.

kentlee7

I reinstalled my Fedora Linux and reinstalled Dropbox, with the Dropbox folder on a newly reformatted drive. Thus, the Dropbox folder on my Linux desktop was empty. As soon as I started Dropbox on the Linux machine, I noticed on my Windows machine that all my Dropbox files were being mass deleted. Okay, maybe Dropbox saw the new empty drive and thought that the user suddenly deleted all the files, so Dropbox started mass deleting on my other machines. Just because I connect a new empty drive doesn't mean that Dropbox should view this as a reason to go gung ho with mass deletions of my files. I am trying to stop it, and I am from the DB web interface to make it restore all my files. But I think this kind of behavior is ridiculous. Dropbox needs some kind of safeguard to prevent sudden mass deletions. This is unacceptable, especially for a paying customer. Also, I might add, that the Dropbox Linux apps can be difficult to install, always lag behind the Windows versions, or lack features compared to the Windows client, which I have always found annoying.