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davidgeerts's avatar
davidgeerts
Explorer | Level 4
9 days ago

Unable to restore Dropbox Backup on wiped hard drive

A couple of weeks ago, I made a back-up of all my files using the Dropbox Backup service. When I did this, all of the files were successfully synced, and the backup was complete. Last week, my computer’s hard disk (the same one I did the backup from) was wiped and my computer was reinstalled. After installing and logging into dropbox on the same computer (but reinstalled and with the wiped hard disk), I could not see nor restore my back-up from the app. I went online and there I could see my back-up. However, I couldn’t restore it from that page, only click on download, which results in an error message saying "Attempted to zip too many files” as it is more than 300GB.

 

I can still see my back-up online, but with ‘folder issues’ and the message "Needs review". However, I cannot ‘review’ anything, nor download or restore my back-up.

 

I want my important files back on my computer, as this is why I pay Dropbox a monthly fee: to be able to store and restore my files safely and securely. I can see it’s still there, why can’t I get it back to my computer?

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    9 days ago

    In this case, you should be able to download your files in the Dropbox Backup by downloading them in batches, since the zip files are too large as you discovered. 

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    Hi davidgeerts, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

     

    Are you not able to restore the Dropbox Backup using the following steps in this article?

     

    This will help me to assist further!

    • davidgeerts's avatar
      davidgeerts
      Explorer | Level 4

      Hi Jay,

      No, unfortunately that doesn't work. It did not prompt me to restore from my backup after I installed Dropbox again on my reinstalled computer. I can also not see boxes to check next to folders I would like to download, I only see my backup listed on the Dropbox Backup page but cannot see details or select anything. It's also not deleted, as I can see it's there, albeit with 'folder issues', so it's not in my deleted files.

      I hope this helps to resolve the issues and get my backup back.

      Thanks!

      David

       

      • Jay's avatar
        Jay
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

        Thanks for the info, in order to look into this matter in more detail, I'd recommend contacting the support team directly for them to investigate further.

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