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My old pictures are missing!

I have not logged in awhile but I just did and realize I have lost 5 years worth of pictures. I have received emails that my dropbox is almost full but I've ignored that because I haven't uploaded anything new to dropbox. Do I have to upgrade to retreive my old stuff back? Does it get automatically deleted at some point? There is no way I deleted the files myself.

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Daphne

Hey @EllieLew, I'm sorry to hear about that!

Around how long was it since you last signed into your account?

Also, are these the only files missing from your account, or are you missing all files from your account?

Let me know and we can go from there!

EllieLew

It had probably been over a year since I had logged in. There are some pictures in there but only 6 months from 2014. Is there any way to recover the older ones?

Jay

Hi @EllieLew, you can check your deleted files page to see if you can recover any deleted files, assuming they were deleted within the last 30 days.

Do you see any deletion events related to the missing images?

EllieLew

There was nothing in deleted files and I could not see where to find any deletion events. I know that I did not delete the pictures. I was wondering if they got purged by Dropbox or something. I stopped using DropBox to upload my pictures when I switched to an Iphone in Oct 2014.

Jay

If the files aren't visible on the events page, then it means that any changes were made over 6 months ago, meaning the files could have been deleted a while ago, if this is the same account you have been using since 2014. Due to this, it wouldn't be possible to recover any files from Dropbox.

Since you've stopped using Dropbox in October 2014 to upload photos, are the photos prior to that period missing, or the ones after?

EllieLew

Yes it's most of the photos prior to that date, I only have a few months left saved now.

Jay

If you didn't use Dropbox since October 2014, then you wouldn't have any backups on Dropbox since that date.

Since you switched to an iPhone, is it possible that they could be located on iCloud?

NopeBob

Hi Jay - I am in a similar situation. An old time user. I dug out my account details and logged in to find no files - just a getting started guide.

As it appears from the above conversation that you are recommending recovery from other services, does that mean Dropbox has lost the data belonging to this class of user?

Mark

@NopeBob wrote:
As it appears from the above conversation that you are recommending recovery from other services, does that mean Dropbox has lost the data belonging to this class of user?

How long ago did you last log on? If it was over 12 months all data is removed for inactivity.

NopeBob

I am sure it was since before last year - I haven't upgraded this phone in the longest time logging in through the app as required to do question how I would have been marked inactive

Hannah

Hey @NopeBob, do you mean that you've been logging in through the Dropbox mobile app during this time?

If so, the account wouldn't have been deleted, as this is considered as an active account.

However, is it possible that you've logged in to a different account? Perhaps an older one, that you never really used?

NopeBob

Hi Hannah thanks for your reply but I don't believe this to be the case for this account which is why I am confused.

Highly disappointed in the service

Mark

@NopeBob wrote:
Hi Hannah thanks for your reply but I don't believe this to be the case for this account which is why I am confused.

Highly disappointed in the service

Dropbox accounts dont just vanish unless not used for over a year.

So, an easy way to check is via www.dropbox.com/events - what does it say there? Also www.dropbox.com/account/security - scroll down to devices. Does that show the ones you expect? Does that show the old phone etc.?

NopeBob

Hi Mark - that is the behaviour I would expect from a robust data storage service, yes! This does not appear to be the case with DropBox

I can't see anything under the events but under devices I see the devices including this phone so further confused.

Jay

Hi @NopeBob, if you're not seeing any file history on the events page, then there's a few possibilities as to why this might be the case:

The files are on another Dropbox account
They were on a shared folder you don't have access to any more
The files were deleted outside of the 30 day period
The files were permanently deleted

Is it possible that any of the above are true? Have you checked for previous login attempts (under browser sessions) to your account on this page?