What's the difference between Dropbox Backup and 'normal' Dropbox? Can files be deleted / restored?

[john l.134]

As I understand it, "Backup" creates an additional copy of files so that if my computer were hacked and my dropbox files were deleted, including those in the dropbox cloud, I could still restore them from Backup.  Is this correct? 

I'm confused, because the files in "Backup" only include files in my Documents folder and a few other folders that have nothing significant in them.  The files in my Dropbox folder, which is located at "C:\Users\[user name]\Dropbox," and which are the important ones,  are not backed up.  

[Jay]

Hi @john l.134, thanks for messaging the Community.

There are two separate systems at work here. There is the normal Dropbox syncing service, which is where all files in the Dropbox folder (the C:\Users\[user name]\Dropbox folder you mentioned), and the Dropbox Backup service, where files from certain system folders (like Documents, Downloads and Desktop) are saved.

The normal service has files syncing both way, meaning you can delete files from the computer or the site. Those files also sync to other machines. The Dropbox Backup is a one-way backup to the site, so you can still delete files from your machine and those deletions will also be made to the backup.

All plans have a recovery period for deleted files, which varies in length. Bear in mind, however, that files can be permanently deleted, which prevents any files from being recovered.

If you have any further queries, feel free to message back.

[john l.134]

Thank you very much, Jay. 

So, to be clear:  If a hacker gets into my computer and deletes my dropbox folder or encrypts the files, which I believe they can do without knowing my dropbox password (just as when I log on to my computer, I can access those folders without entering my dropbox password), I can still recover them using my dropbox password, right?

[Jay]

Yes, provided that you still have access to the online version of Dropbox, and are within the version history for your account. 

In general, even for a personal machine, we recommend adding a password onto your computer profile login to provide a little extra security to your machine.

[john l.134]

Yes, I do have a login password.   Just one more follow up question:  I have thousands of files in my dropbox.  If it were deleted or compromised, would I have to recover the files one-by-one, or could I recover my whole dropbox folder all at once?   Again, many thanks!

[Walter · Accepted solution]

Hey @john l.134 - sorry to jump in here, but I wanted to mention that in the case you mentioned, you'd be able to use the Dropbox Rewind feature which allows you to go back in time within your account's version history.

Let us know if you have any other questions!