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Forum Discussion
Solved
Dropbox backup deleting the original files on my backed up PC.
If this is the way Dropbox backup is going to work I may seek a different solution. Dropbox didn't just make a backup copy, it removed the files from my PC so that there is not a local copy. Is there a setting that I haven't found or is it intended to work this way? Please let me know as this is not an acceptable approach.
revik345 wrote:
Dropbox didn't just make a backup copy, it removed the files from my PC so that there is not a local copy.
While the "backup" feature does move your key folders, they're still local. They've just been moved into the Dropbox folder which is still local to your computer and a regular folder like any other.
- Rich
Super User II
revik345 wrote:
Dropbox didn't just make a backup copy, it removed the files from my PC so that there is not a local copy.
While the "backup" feature does move your key folders, they're still local. They've just been moved into the Dropbox folder which is still local to your computer and a regular folder like any other.
Got it, Rich. I see that now. I was misled by the fact that several apps stopped working (temporarily) because they did not find files in their normal location. Thanks for the quick reply.
But Rich, when you try to replace them into your personal files it still keeps them in a dropbox sync and most of us don't want all of our personal files in dropbox, That should not have been a dropbox decision!
- Rich
tess e wrote:
... most of us don't want all of our personal files in dropbox, That should not have been a dropbox decision!
It wasn't a Dropbox decision. It was your decision when you activated the backup feature.
This feature doesn't get enabled automatically. You either need to go into Dropbox preferences and enable it yourself, or you agreed to it during the installation of the Dropbox application. As Mark mentions above, if you're just blindly clicking Next or Ok during the install, it's easy to miss if you're not reading the information presented to you.
And again for anyone else that comes to this thread later, the backup option is not taking files off of your computer. It's moving them into the local Dropbox folder so it can sync them to your account. If you don't wish this to happen, don't enable the computer backup features.
Basically, They are Highjacking your files and holding them for Ransome - while getting you to upgrade. How is this not illegal !!!!
The same thing happened to me. Then they make it more than difficult enough to get some help to the solution - one that doesn't exist, except purchasing a higher plan! !!!!
Brian
totally agree!
same problem here! This seems very invasive! I did not approve them to take my files off pc. Now no way to keep them and many are deleted completely. Seems like a ploy to get us to buy more storage. Should be illegal.
I didn't approve anything. DB was not working so I uninstalled and reinstalled and suddenly while it was setting up, I got hit with a virus and then all my files started disappearing and the next day my pc files were in dropbox and I was getting a notice I needed to buy more space. (Scam alert!) Many files were suddenly emptied out and missing from my pc. It took everything from my pc and renamed a file to public. Totally freaked me out so I had malwarebytes scan things. I apparently got a worm from DB and still have a serious issue. Missing the past 2 years of important files. The worst is all my recent work is just gone! Some are randomly in DB and some are just gone or moved into new files with DB in front of the file name. I immediately reached out to DB and supposedly someone was going to call me. No one did. Chatted again yesterday and was told someone from support would reach out. NO one has.
I also found myself backing up files to the cloud *without wanting to*. I have never backed anything up to the cloud, have never given permission. I remember in the long process Dropbox initiates -- always just "one more thing to do" -- that I checked a "local" box.
All I wanted to do was to use Dropbox to receive some large audio files and I signed on only because it was really made difficult to do this as a non-subscribers. I am really regretting this. I feel conned.
Now I'm afraid to stop the process as I can see that people have reported lost files when they do this. How to undo this unwanted process without losing anything from my computer, please? "Invasive" is right, Tess (and super-user Mark who is a super-user and yet made the same mistake?)
