Super important family photos were deleted, and I didn't see the warning emails. Can I restore them?

Question

Hi,

I am hoping someone from the Dropbox team can assist me with this super urgent problem

In march this year my files including super important family photos were deleted from my account. I did receive notification emails , but it got lost within a lot of other emails and I never saw them. I only discovered today that everything is gone. My deleted files folder is also completely empty

The account stored years of my super precious family photos, I had trusted Dropbox as my long-term storage, which is why I never kept a second backup.

My dad and grandpa and grandma all died in the last couple of years, and the photographs of us all together were all in my dropbox files which got deleted this march. These photos are super important to me and cannot be replaced. I have been having a tough day thinking these super important family photos might be are all gone and this is why I am asking for Dropbox team for much needed assistance rather than simply giving up.

My questions are:

* Once files are removed this way, does the data still exist on Dropbox's side for any period – in backups or under a longer internal retention than what a user can see?
* Would upgrading to a paid plan give access to extended version history or a longer recovery window that could help in a case like this?
* If a staff member is able to look into my account, I would be very grateful – please let me know and I will send any details you need by private message.

I am willing to pay for recovery if that is an option because these photos of my late dad, grandpa and grandma are all I have of them now. Any assistance from Dropbox staff would mean the world to me.

Thanks

Nancy · Answer

Hi from me as well @wendyying_173938, and thanks for your post.

From what I understand, your files/folders were deleted, because your Dropbox account went over-quota. Is this correct?

If the files were deleted 5 months ago, I’m afraid that there isn’t something that can be done in this case.

Once the files got deleted, you’d have 30 days to restore them (which is the file-recovery window of your Dropbox plan). After that, the files are marked for a permanent deletion, unfortunately.

Upgrading wouldn’t help either in this case, as it doesn’t work retroactively, like Mark also mentioned.

The only thing I can recommend is to double check all of your devices (both desktop and mobile), just in case there are any copies of these files somewhere else.

I’m really sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

Mark · Answer

Once files are removed this way, does the data still exist on Dropbox's side for any period – in backups or under a longer internal retention than what a user can see?

Yes, but, only for 30 days after deletion if the deletion is for being over quota and no if its for inactivity.

What does www.dropbox.com/events show?

Would upgrading to a paid plan give access to extended version history or a longer recovery window that could help in a case like this?

No. Upgrades are not retroactive. However, it would give you access to priority support AND would be needed to restore anything they could, if they have it - they cannot restore (if its in the 30 day window above) to an account if it goes over quota.

If a staff member is able to look into my account, I would be very grateful – please let me know and I will send any details you need by private message.

Hopefully somebody will pick this up Monday, however, it is very very unlikely they'll be able to recover the data - especially given how long it is between deletion and now.