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deleted folder re appeared after a couple of years
Something very weird just happened with my dropbox account. Out of nowhere, a folder which was deletec about 2 years ago re appeared on my dropbox. It has the files as they were, which makes me wonder why the hell dropbox is still keeping these files after a few years that they have been deleted?
First I thought it was a hack, but then I checked all my devices and what was accessing my account and indeed, everything was as it was before.
It makes me think this is a serious bug and on another note, why the hell is dropbox keeping data that was deleted 2 years ago?
I'll surprised, scared and angry at the same time. I'm not even sure where to begin! I'm now wondering about several of my clients that use dropbox in their business if the same happens.
Thanks everyone for your patience while we worked on a way to clean up the inadvertently restored files and folders. We've built a fix that will automatically return this content to the way it should be: deleted and out of your Dropbox. This will only impact the inadvertently restored files and folders, and only if you haven’t updated them. We’ll begin rolling out the fix to affected users’ accounts later today. We’re giving you a heads up here so you’re aware of why there may be changes to your Dropbox. Here’s a bit more information about the fix.
Will this affect my other files?
The fix will only impact the inadvertently restored files and folders. If you have edited the files or folders—by moving them or updating the content inside—they will stay in your Dropbox. You can still manually delete these files and folders if you don’t want them.What if I don’t want these files or folders removed?
While the fix will automatically take effect later today, you can contact our support team (dropbox.com/support) within 30 days and we’ll restore the files and folders for you. You won’t be able to restore on your own using the events page.Do I need to do anything?
We will automatically roll out the fix, you don’t need to do a thing. If you have questions or concerns, please write our support team at http://bit.ly/cm-support so that we can investigate your specific case. Your ticket will be prioritized by the team.Thanks again for your patience, and we’re sorry for any inconvenience and confusion we’ve caused.
I installed dropbox earlier tonight and I allowed it to do a full sync with my local folder. When I checked it out as it was close to finishing I found 2 extra folders in there.
They are so old I initially didn't even recognize them. Took me a couple of minutes to realize they're a couple of folders with project files from about 6-7 years ago, so extremely old.
I checked the event viewer and it tells me that I added those 2 folders 47 minutes ago ( about the time when I started dropbox after I installed it ).
Has this happened to anyone else ? I assume there's nothing to worry about but the whole thing just seemed somewhat surreal initially to be honest.- Rich
Super User II
Was there an existing Dropbox folder already on that computer from a previous installation? If so, when you linked the computer to your account it may have reused the existing folder and anything in it would have been uploaded to your Dropbox account as if it were new.- no, definitely not. i haven't had those files in any computer of mine since ... 6-7 years ago when the project ended.
Suddenly this morning very old folders I deleted ages ago are back in my dropbox folder both online as on my computer. Hoew did this happen en can I just delete them? My newest folders seem to be fine.
Best, Femke
I just received a new folder in my DropBox - it is called "Shared".
It contains a single zero-byte text file named "Shared with Matt.txt"
Dropbox's desktop agent did *not* show any notification that this had happened. Neither did it prompt me to accept the share (normally you get to accept a share by clicking "Add To Dropbox"???)
Windows 10 Action Centre (the alerts pane that appears on the bottom-right *did* give me a notification. That notification was:
"DropBox Server (DS) has shared a folder with you". Again there was no option to accept this, it just happened.Finally, the new folder that has appeared does not appear to be shared with anyone else, and the text file inside it is dated from 2010.
I have a (very!) dim recollection I *might* have created this file myself (but 6 years ago??) so I'm wondering:
a - is this some DropBox bug that's recreating old deleted stuff from years ago (and if so why does my notification come from "DropBox Server?)
b - this is the prelude to some kind of hack / attack (maybe tomorrow someone will "share" a malicious executable with me expecting me to run it?
- update - as a precaution I've changed password and cancelled any pre-existing sessions/connections to my account and re-entered the new password on all my devices. Still be interested to understand what might have happened though!
- Rich
clumsybiker wrote:
I have a (very!) dim recollection I *might* have created this file myself (but 6 years ago??) so I'm wondering:
There are a couple of other people that reported old folders returning after being deleted previously (in at least one case, years ago), so it's likely that the same has happened to you.
a - is this some DropBox bug that's recreating old deleted stuff from years ago (and if so why does my notification come from "DropBox Server?)
Best guess, yes, and probably because the Dropbox servers are adding the files back. Again... best guess.
b - this is the prelude to some kind of hack / attack (maybe tomorrow someone will "share" a malicious executable with me expecting me to run it?
Highly unlikely.
- RichI'm merging these threads into one so it's easier to track this issue.
I'm using dropbox for quite some time. Never had problems.
All of a sudden it starts syncing old maps.
When I remove them from dropbox (for example by putting them on my computer or even in the trash), they return automatically.
- Rich
tijsboom wrote:
When I remove them from dropbox (for example by putting them on my computer or even in the trash), they return automatically.If a file or folder returns when you delete it, it's usually because it was unable to be deleted on one of your connected devices.
You delete a file on computer A. Dropbox is informed that it has been deleted and syncs that change to your account. Dropbox on your other devices is notified that the file has been deleted, so they also remove the file. On computer B, Dropbox is unable to remove that file for whatever reason (permission, locked, read-only, etc.). The result is that the file remains in place. Dropbox sees the file is still there, thinks it's been added and uploads it back to your account. All your other devices are notified of the "new" file and they sync it back down.
So the problem is that the file or folder in question on one of your devices is unable to be deleted. Figure out which (use Previous Versions to see which computer is adding it back) and fix what is holding it there, and you'll be able to delete it.No good Rich. The reappearing files are throwing error 400 when trying to check the version history.
Ross_SDropbox Staff
tijsboom wrote:
I'm using dropbox for quite some time. Never had problems.
All of a sudden it starts syncing old maps.
When I remove them from dropbox (for example by putting them on my computer or even in the trash), they return automatically.
Hi there,
I've sent you an email to follow up on this, we'll get to the bottom of it!
Many thanks in advance.
I'm actually having this exact issue: files I deleted about 5 to 6 years ago are appearing back in my Dropbox. When I go to view their prior history, I get an error and it says none is available. Can someone please contact me about this? Thank you.
Hi! I have the same issue with my account, my Mac is downloading a lot of folders which are deleted 2 or 3 years ago and I don't know why I am downloading it again (and I don't know why Dropbox is still saving this files on his servers)...
I have checked my Activity History and I haven't any kind of "weird" activity. Also I had changed my passwords on my account.
Same issue! 400+ folders and files that were deleted long ago started downloading to all my devices today. What gives? Also isn't this stuff supposed to be purged after 30 days? Is DropBox really keeping our files forever? Scary.
- Indeed; this is what also makes me wonder. Dropbox is supposed to be erasing forever deleted files that's older than 30 days on a few account. Where did all this data come from? This means that potentially they can store anything for ever and this makes you think...
Hi All, On the 18th Jan. approx 11:40 local time (Turkey), I had loads of old long-deleted files from 2011 mysteriously reappear in my Dropbox. Also, some updated files seem to have reverted to older versions of themselves. Does anyone know what's happening? I've since changed my password but this seems more like some strange system error. There are no devices with these older versions that I know of and I use a Mac at home and a PC at work.
- Rich
JasonW wrote:
Does anyone know what's happening?
Yes. The explanation has been posted in the very thread that you replied to. Read the entire thing and you'll have your answer.
I have the very same problem. Almost 10 GB of files I've deleted 6 years ago appeared in my Dropbox today. This is very weird for me since I have never had a single problem before with Dropbox. It is kind of creepy...I can't find the right contact email as well
I'm having similar issues this morning with dozens of files. There have been no changes of files from my employees listed under Events. From reading threads below it's obvious that it's a Dropbox system issue. My concen is rolling back to correct this issue. I don't want to spend time having to refile. Yikes!
I just received an automated email from Dropbox Support outlining that the issue can be resolved using their self-serve help tools on the website. Furthermore, they then closed the help ticket. It's actually kind of insulting that the help request was even flagged for something like this, rather than reviewed by a human. What recourse do we have to obtain assistance on this? Do I have to spam Twitter with help messages?
Spamming in Twitter doesn't seem to be working either...
- Ross_S
Hi all,
Thanks for reporting the issues, appologies for any inconvience, I'm looking into this for you all right now. I'll either write to each of you individually or update the thread here.
Many thanks in advance!
- Rich
A788286432 wrote:
What recourse do we have to obtain assistance on this?
Dropbox is already aware of the issue and is looking into it. Reply back to your ticket and include a link to this thread.
- Ross_S
A788286432 wrote:
I just received an automated email from Dropbox Support outlining that the issue can be resolved using their self-serve help tools on the website. Furthermore, they then closed the help ticket. It's actually kind of insulting that the help request was even flagged for something like this, rather than reviewed by a human. What recourse do we have to obtain assistance on this? Do I have to spam Twitter with help messages?
Hi,
Appologies for that, I'm looking into this right now.
Many thanks.
This has happened to me too - a load of files and folders from 2011 and then some from about 5 years ago. All just appeared in my dropbox today. Tried to do the version history but getting an error.
Really concerning that I didn't even know these files still existed. They are personell data of old clients etc.
Have manually deleted but really want to know what is going on. Could someone update asap as this is very worrying.
Yep, deleted 2011 files started reappearing for me today as well. Hmmm...
Same thing happening to me. I am an experienced Dropbox user and know that this might occur if files are not deleted on other devices (for reasons such as write protection or if in use and such), but that is not the issue here. These are old folder and occasional - random - files in the folders. This is a very disturbing bug, because it makes me concerned about the syncing of my current files and so on. I'd like to see Dropbox reply to this immediately, please.
- Rich
janchristensen wrote:
I'd like to see Dropbox reply to this immediately, please.
Dropbox is already aware of the issue and is looking into it. When I hear more, I'll post it.
We had the same issue, and file organization completely wackadoo. That's my technical term for the day. :)
