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My Dropbox account went over-quota, while syncing, and my folders are now empty.

Hi,

I transferred multiple folders and files to my basic account, and everything appeared to sync correctly. However, once my storage limit was reached, I stopped seeing the files — the folders looked empty on my computer.

Although I deleted a significant number of files to free up space, the folders still appear empty. Even when I select "Make available offline" and see the green checkmark, the contents don't show up locally.

I'm not sure if the files are stuck in the cloud or if there's a sync issue preventing them from appearing on my computer.

Can someone please advise?

Thanks,

Natali

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Jay

If the account was over quota, then it means that any new files, or edits to files, wouldn't sync these changes to the Dropbox site, meaning that there would be no history for Dropbox to recover the files from.

Since there doesn't appear to be any history in the system, likewise there wouldn't be any history for our team to recover files on our end.

All comments

Mark

Do you see the files at http://www.dropbox.com/home ?

nat_b1

No :-(

Nancy

Hey Natali, can you clarify how you uploaded your files/folders to Dropbox exactly? Did you drop them in the local Dropbox folder of the desktop app? Or did you add them directly via www.dropbox.com?

If you go to your Events page here, can you see more details on what may have happened perhaps?

Finally, can you still see your files in their original location, the one they were saved in before uploading them to your Dropbox account?

nat_b1

I added the files locally, and I saw them appear on Dropbox.com. I can see all the folders and many of the files I uploaded, but some folders are now showing up as empty.

I see the events: "You added the folder Pics from Redis", "You added buyme and 3 more folders".
but as I said most of them are empty now.

Nancy

Hmm, I see. Do you remember any names of files that you’re now missing from your folders?

If you do, please use the search bar on www.dropbox.com and let me know if you get any results.

Other than that, have the files disappeared from your desktop app, as well?

nat_b1

Yes, I searched them - nothing.
It disappeard from all places.

Nancy

How about your Deletes files page here? Have you already checked it?

Regarding your Events page that we mentioned above, you don't see any deletion event there either, correct?

nat_b1

Nothing on delete files.
Events - no deletions.

Is there a chance that somehow the files were added without the content (eventhough I remebering seeing them)?

Jay

Hi @nat_b1, could you clarify some more details, like the approximate date of when you uploaded those files?

Were any of the folders you added the files to also shared folders?

nat_b1

The last files were uploaded on June 10th.
No, they were not shared folders.

Jay

Okay, so it has been almost 30 days since the last upload, which would be the version history for a Dropbox Basic plan.

As you're not seeing the missing files on the events or deleted files page, then there's a few possibilities as to why this might be the case:

The files are on another Dropbox account
The files were deleted outside of the 30 day period
The files were permanently deleted

Are any of the above options a possibility for these files?

nat_b1

- No, I am sure this is the correct account.
- I did not delete anything at any stage.

Is there truly nothing I can do? 😞
Usually, when I'm over quota, is there anything happening in the background that isn’t visible to me?

Jay

Since there doesn't appear to be any history in the system, likewise there wouldn't be any history for our team to recover files on our end.

nat_b1

The issue is that I did not receive any notifications about being over quota until several days later. At the time, everything looked normal and all the files appeared to be there, so I had no idea anything was wrong.

Is there any way to see exactly when the account went over quota?

Jay

Currently, there isn't a method to see what date your account went overquota, even on our end.

Is it possible that the files were deleted from another computer entirely, while connected to your account, outside of the version history?

Do you have any apps or services that could automatically move or delete files from the Dropbox folder?

At this point, since the files don't appear to be on the Dropbox site, I'd recommend looking into some third party recovery software to locate and attempt to restore the files deleted from your computer.

nat_b1

I had to return my work computer, so I backed up my personal files to Dropbox. After that, I signed out and deleted the Dropbox app from the computer. Then the computer was formatted. If the Dropbox folder was deleted along with the files in it, I would have expected everything to be removed from my Dropbox account. But I still see some files there, and while most of the folders remain, they’re empty.

Mark

nat_b1 wrote:
If the Dropbox folder was deleted along with the files in it, I would have expected everything to be removed from my Dropbox account

That would only happen if the folder was actively deleted while logged in and the software was running. If it was simply handed device in and formatted as Dropbox isnt running it wouldnt delete them - as Dropbox doesnt even know its been deleted.