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I lost some updates on the files I was working with, after a computer crash.

Hello - I hope I've got the right category and am not asking a question already asked (I couldn't spot it).

For the second time today, after a computer crash, all the file saves after a certain point have disappeared. I left my desk half an hour ago and returned to find my computer had crashed, and all my files had reverted to where they were 11 hours previously.

To be clear, I had saved these files - possibly up to 10 in total. (Because I'm working on a PhD, I work across a lot of files at the same time, so I'm not even sure what had edits or not. For some I had done some substantial writing, for others I had added small notes to follow up. Fortunately I took a break in the afternoon and then worked on another program where I *hadn't* saved my changes (ironically those were therefore not lost!), so I've only lost 2 hours' work, but it will be difficult for me to remember it all and redo.)

Is there any way of getting my saved versions back? This happened about 6 days ago, and I thought the problem was because of the shift in the storage possibility (I have 4.75GB from when I first got Dropbox and it still says I have that, but I know the basic storage is now 2GB). So I spent a day removing files and am now within the 2GB limit. It's happened again, and the losses are more substantive this time, so I don't know what the problem is and I'd really like my work back if possible.

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Comments

Walter

Hi there @SenB - sorry to hear about this.

Can you please have a look at the version history of those files to see if you can find a previous version to restore?

Also, how is this logged in your events page exactly?

Let us know more and we'll take it from there.

SenB

Thank you for getting back Walter.

So this is part of the mystery: the version history stops at the point each file reverted to, even though I saved subsequent versions (and they synced).

My event history also stops at that point, with the exception of one file that survived the crash (#2 below). That's to say, the events page lists all the edits I made to various files in the morning (I am in the UK, so British Summer Time - the last of these edits is 1:43 PM), then there are no events after that except the edit to this one file (at 5:52 PM). I don't know if this makes a difference, but there are also events about moving files, including various .tmp files, but I did not actually move any files, and these events are prior to 1:43 PM.

I should add three points I've realised/noticed:

1) I switched off my computer during the day (I think around that same time of 1:43 PM), and the version that the files have reverted to seems be the version prior to that switch-off.

2) There is one file, but only one file, which is an exception to this (i.e. the later saved version has survived, saved at 5:52 PM).

3) When I restarted my computer after the crash, one of the folders in Windows Explorer (but only one) had those extra "locked" versions of the files that get created when you open a file for editing. These were dated to the correct times. I should have tried to open one directly to see what happened! Unfortunately, once I started opening the main files, opening their extra "locked" counterparts just returned me to the same main file (without the subsequent (saved) edits).

Nancy

Hey @SenB! Sorry for jumping in. I’d like to clarify something (and apologies if you’ve already mentioned it).

Before the crash occurred, had your desktop app synced everything to your account online? Had you checked www.dropbox.com at some point to see if your updates had synced there, or checked the Dropbox icon in your system tray instead to see if the app was up to date?

Since you also mentioned your Dropbox quota at some point, had your account gone over-quota (past the 4GB of available space you have) and was no longer syncing, by any chance?

SenB

Thanks @Nancy - no, even when I was over 4GB my files were syncing (my quota was/is stated as 4.75 GB), and I am now under 2 GB and they have been syncing regularly all week.

And yes, whilst I'm not 100% sure when I checked syncing through the day, I know that there has to have been syncing after 5:52 PM yesterday because that one file saved at that time is there. I had saved changes to several other files as well by that time after a 1.5-hour work session (all those other edits have disappeared).

I also then made edits to 3-5 files from 7-7:30 PM and saved them, and the crash was around 10:15 PM, so I don't think a delay in syncing could explain it - it's usually much quicker to sync for me than that.

Megan

Hey @SenB, let me also jump in here!

This is indeed a unique situation here. However, if we're to take into consideration the info that your version history & events page present at the moment, that means the files' changes never synced to Dropbox.

If they were, they'd be an indication of this on your events page, and then we would be able to either see an edit, or a deletion.

What file types are we talking about? I know it might sound trivial, but have you tried searching for some example file names outside of your Dropbox folder on your device?

SenB

Thank you for this suggestion @Megan, I did a search for three files as a test and found some "shortcut" files, but they were all versions from when I last opened them yesterday afternoon, i.e. without the saved edits. Still - I'll remember to try this next time immediately after the crash.

The file types are LibreOffice Writer and Calc (their equivalent of Word and Excel).

Finally, I realise it seems impossible that I saved the files, they synced, and then those versions somehow disappeared again from the version history and the events page. I guess it is possible that I am misremembering saving files on Tuesday afternoon/evening, or (less likely) that I did save, am misremembering checking that Dropbox had synced, and in fact it then didn't sync for three hours (though that would be a bit worrying, and as I said above, seems unlikely when it usually takes a few seconds after saving).

The problem is that the last time this happened, which I think was last Wednesday (the 5th), I woke up on the Thursday to find that *all* of my saved edits had disappeared. None of them were major, but my point is that it just doesn't seem plausible to me that I didn't save any files all day (my normal habit is to save whenever I get up from my desk) or that Dropbox didn't sync all day.

But again, I realise it's also implausible that saved versions are disappearing from Dropbox. At this stage, I think what I'm going to do is use an external hard drive as a secondary back-up, and do a three-stage check every time I save: save to my computer, check it syncs, then save to the external drive. That way, if there's another incident, I'll be able to say with 100% certainty what has happened.

Megan

Hey @SenB, I definitely see where you're coming from.

However, let me add one more thing for you to consider.

Perhaps you saved these edits, while the app wasn't running. Then once the app resumed its syncing process, and instead of these edits syncing from the device to your account online, what happened is that the edits you had online, synced "down" to your computer.

This is very rare, but not impossible.

A few things to keep in mind is whether you see the little Dropbox icon on your task bar, and your syncing icons next to your files/folders.

In any case, keep an eye out, and let me know if this happens again. Thank you!