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Data Loss After PC Factory Reset

Hello - Recently, I reset my computer to factory settings due to a suspicion of hacking. As a result, I had to format my drives, including one that was linked to Dropbox. Before the reset, I checked and believed that the files on this drive had been backed up to Dropbox. However, upon looking today, it appears I have lost a significant amount of critical content; only one file remains in the folder.

I am reaching out to see if there is any possibility for Dropbox to recover these files. I would greatly appreciate any assistance or guidance, as these files are of significant importance to me.

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Mark

As long as it was within the last 30 days, assuming you are a free user, you can restore from there via https://help.dropbox.com/delete-restore/recover-deleted-files-folders. However, if its over that, and you are a free user, no its not possible. Sorry

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Mark

@Big Slim wrote:
I am reaching out to see if there is any possibility for Dropbox to recover these files. I would greatly appreciate any assistance or guidance, as these files are of significant importance to me.

How did you check they were uploaded to Dropbox? Did you go to www.dropbox.com/home to look? OR did you just check the folders on your machine?

What does www.dropbox.com/events show?

And do you still have quota available? www.dropbox.com/account

Note: if they were never uploaded to Dropbox in the first place (say because it wasn't given enough time, or, you were over quota and so syncing stopped) they are not recoverable via Dropbox because Dropbox doesn't even know they exist.

Big Slim

Thanks Mark. It looks like I can see them marked as deleted in www.dropbox.com/events. Is there a way to recover them from here?

Mark

Big Slim

I was previously a free user but have recently upgraded to an essentials account. Since I was a free user when the 30-day period ended, does that mean I'm still out of luck?

Mark

@Big Slim wrote:
Since I was a free user when the 30-day period ended, does that mean I'm still out of luck?

It relates to the date they were deleted I'm afraid. So if you were a free user at point of deletion then the 30 day window applies. Even an upgrade the next day doesn't give you 180 day recovery.

So, yes, unfortunately you are out of luck.

Big Slim

Surely there's still hope if I can see the files on the events page, right? I'm struggling to get in touch with Dropbox support. Do you know how to contact them directly? It feels like a major flaw if such a large amount of content was deleted from my cloud without warning. I understand that my reset removed the files locally, but I didn't expect them to be removed from the cloud as well. I'm really glad I didn't back up EVERYTHING to Dropbox.

Rich

@Big Slim wrote:
Surely there's still hope if I can see the files on the events page, right?

If it's beyond 30 days, there's nothing that can be done as the files are already gone. The Events page is just a log. It's not indicative of the files still existing on a server somewhere.