Deleted files due to external drive getting disconnected

Hi @dragomirradev, unfortunately when working with your Dropbox folder on an external drive that's always a possibility.

We can’t guarantee perfect functionality of the Dropbox app if you’re running it on an external drive. For the Dropbox application to work properly, I’d recommend that you install it on the hard drive of your Operating System.

This is because Dropbox can’t always work correctly if the Dropbox folder becomes inaccessible, and this can happen if it's located on an external drive.

I'll forward your feedback to the appropriate areas so we can continue to improve.

All comments

Hi @dragomirradev, thanks for posting here!

First of all, amazing troubleshooting process, in order for you to restore the files after the deletion.

Now, in regards to the app deleting the restored content: is the app running when you plug in the external drive? Does it make any difference, if you pause the app, plug the external hard drive, and then resume syncing?

Let me know more!

Thanks.

I don't think that this made a difference. I had killed the app and rebooted the computer with the drive attached to it. Then the deletions continued again.

I couldn't make progress this way. This was very time consuming and disappointing.

I am now trying to rebuild the local copy on a different drive, starting with an empty drive. Based on my previous experience, this will take weeks. And I don't know what will happen if the drive gets disconnected again and starts deleting files again.

Any advice?

Thanks.

Drago

Hi @dragomirradev, it's indeed possible that this is happening because you're using an external hard drive.

When you visit your account online, are the files fully restored, or does the restoration process still take place? I'd suggest you give some time for the files to fully restore online, then try again.

As for the different drive that you mentioned, I am assuming it's also an external hard drive?

The external hard drive is ok.

However, when it got accidentally disconnected from the power supply, this caused all files on the server to be deleted.

The question is how to prevent this from happening again. Can you add some safety measure in dropbox that would recognize that the entire local copy of the files has been disconnected and issue a warning to the user before automatically assuming that all these files need to be deleted.

Thanks.

Drago

Hi @dragomirradev, unfortunately when working with your Dropbox folder on an external drive that's always a possibility.

This is because Dropbox can’t always work correctly if the Dropbox folder becomes inaccessible, and this can happen if it's located on an external drive.

I'll forward your feedback to the appropriate areas so we can continue to improve.

Thanks.

What I said is a very easy fix.

When Dropbox recognizes that several TB of data have been disconnected, it can send a warning to the user. This way the user can realize the issue and reconnect the drive before the files get deleted from the server. This should be a very easy fix. Are you sure that such an option doesn't already exist?

Rich

@dragomirradev wrote:
Are you sure that such an option doesn't already exist?

No such option exists. This is why it's been recommended that the local Dropbox folder NOT be stored on an external drive. As you've seen, under the right conditions, file deletions can occur. If the external drive becomes disconnected at any point while Dropbox is running, or if Dropbox is started while the drive is disconnected, Dropbox can see this as a mass file deletion.

Yes, that's what I am talking about.

As you know, internal hard drives are not large enough, so that's why people use external drives.

What I am asking of you is to make an easy change to your software so that users get a warning if the entire drive gets disconnected. It takes probably two lines of code to implement it. All the message should say is 'are you sure that you want to delete 3.7 TB of files from your account, yes/no'.
Such an option may already exist. Can you please check if it does and, if not, please implement it.

Thanks.

I have already lost many dozens of hours dealing with such issues with Dropbox.

Totally with you @dragomirradev

It's crazy, we run a design studio with very large files that need to be worked on locally and use external drives as laptop HDs aren't big enough. we have recently had a few instances of exactly this. Never used to.

To the point today where our whole studio has 11 hours of re-syncing because one user disconnected their external drive and it instantly deleted all the files. All the effort dropbox put into security and this is a huge weak link.

Sorry to say that today is the last straw and will be looking at alternative solutions as support just said..."yep, that's what dropbox does, be careful"

Just happened again!

Last straw I'm afraid Dropbox.

Been with you years but sat here late at night trying to restore files and re-sync 600K files.

Moving providers tomorrow.

This is nuts!

Agreed - this is an insane weakness in the otherwise strong Dropbox solution.

It should simply not be possible for this to occur. No excuses on limitations. Think differently about this.

Add to this the limitations of expanding internal storage in a Macbook and this is becoming virtually an unusable (or at the very least - dangerous) - solution in Mac based studios......(I work with a Landscape design studio - this has happened once to us so far.)

It flies in the face of all the efforts Dropbox are making to support team operations.......

Our incident was an accident - but I could describe another scenario where someone with an understanding of this limitation could willfully trash a company's Team Dropbox content by a single action of unplugging an external drive before walking out the door.

Verrimedia

Yep, this is a big issue for us as well.

We didn't even disconnect a drive, just when a machine rebooted apparently it didn't connect fast enough and dropbox deleted it.

Same problem with a 3.5TB dropbox and running on Mac's where you can't upgrade the storage.

Has anyone got recommendations for alternatives that work well with external drives?

naethai

I have a 17TB dropbox that I hold on an external drive via the Dropbox app. I'm on macOS 13.4.

I have my computer (a mac mini) set so that when I load my computer Dropbox opens automatically.

Sometimes I turn off my computer and the external drive (generally when I leave my desktop for several days) and then turn it back on later.

Now here's the important part:

If I turn my computer on without having turned on the external drive, i.e. it does not mount upon startup, Dropbox comes with a popup saying "we can't find your dropbox" and then asks me "do you want to resync your dropbox? or quit?". I simply choose "quit". Dropbox closes. I turn my drive on. It mounts. I open up the dropbox app.

Everything works fine.

Not sure what's happening on your side?

If you want a bit of fun, keep your drive mounted and using as normal.

Now trip over the cable and pull the cable out from your Mac mini.

Hey presto "All your work will be deleted" It's a right giggle, try it.

Verrimedia

Yeah, I think that's what used to happen, which was totally fine and workable.

Unfortunately we've got a new Mac Mini that doesn't do that. Twice when we've restarted the machine it's just deleted everything.

As a work around in the short term we've removed drop box from the start up items and we'll see how that goes.

Megan, what is the latest on this issue. For what it is worth I think this is the single biggest liability using Dropbox - in particular in the Mac environment where you are driven to use external storage by Apple’s design philosophy.

Surely there is some progress on addressing this issue with some new/improved functionality by now ?

Hi @ScottMOz, we don't have any current news on this.

We will make sure to update any relevant threads if and once we do. Thank you!

Is it actively being investigated ? And is it recognised as an issue? The standard response from Dropbox of “we don’t recommend using external drives” isn’t satisfactory.

BrandtCooley

I just came in to be a drop in the bucket. This is the most infuriating weakness and has been like this for at least a year. Please fix this, it makes me so so anxious and angry when it happens. Make it unsyc or something, please don't delete a TB that I need that night for a gig you absolute monsters.

marcocapp

This problem should be solved.

It has happened to me a couple of times in two years and the result is that the whole team lost a day's work because of the resynchronization time.

I try to explain why the Dropbox team should take this problem seriously:

1. Due to the limited size of internal HDDs, it is not possible to save "offline" all Dropbox folders.
2. Having the ability to keep files "online only" is just wonderful, but it is critical in terms of security: If the Internet goes down or Dropbox's servers get hacked or need maintenance, all files suddenly become inaccessible. It is a good practice for any digital archive to have at least one copy in the cloud and one locally. To this end, saving to external drives is essential.
3. If I try to delete a large number of files, dropbox asks me to confirm before doing so. Why does this not happen in this specific scenario?
4. I am a photographer and send my team files to edit overnight when I am abroad for a photo shoot. Having a computer that is always connected and has the entire Dropbox folder offline allows them to have the files ready to use when they arrive at the studio in the morning.
5. The policy of setting Dropbox folders "online only" by default (this is done when the app is first set up) is great because it allows for a lot of free disk space. At the same time, the fact that an accidental disconnection of a drive can cause all files to be deleted effectively rules out the option of saving all our files "offline" (see point 1).
6. I suggest simply adding a logical operation to your software: IF the size of the files to be deleted is = the size of the sum of all Dropbox folders AND IF the Dropbox folder is on an external volume THEN show a confirmation prompt before performing the operation.

Yes - I just don’t get why this is not possible to fix - or at least put more safety in place. The impact of this issue is beyond major on a business team.

The one protection I have implemented for a business I work with is to use Synologu Cloud sync with the “do not delete files duing sync” set on a local nas in the office - better than nothing but not ideal……

marcocapp

This is not a solution. This is a limit.

^^ Exactly this. This is far from solved.