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Kotik3000's avatar
Kotik3000
Explorer | Level 3
2 years ago

Urgent Help Needed: Photos Library Sync Issue with Dropbox after copying them to Vault

Hello dear Dropbox Community,

I need your help. Today I have a vacation. But the entire mood has been ruined since the early morning. Dropbox is better than five shots of coffee. Yesterday, I decided to sync my MacBook's Photos library, which is more than 70GB in size, to Dropbox Vault before heading out on a trip for safety reasons. I just copied them in the Dropbox folder on my Mac. I expected everything to be safely uploaded in the morning. However, this morning, Vault showed an empty file, and there’s a 16GB file outside the Vault that named view-only conflicts. Later Vault synced a folder of 2Gb. But even all together, it is not 70Gb of my memories. More than that, I see the original Photos folder in the pictures folder has been removed

These photos mean a lot to me — over a decade of memories. Can you help me find out what happened and how to return my photos?

Thank you a lot!

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

    Hi there Kotik3000 - sorry to hear about this.

     

    It sounds like you might have moved your photos library to Vault instead of copying it there.

     

    Do you see any additional information in your events page perhaps?

     

    Also, when you say that the folder has been removed from its original location,  can you clarify if you're getting any particular errors?

     

    Let us know more and we'll take it from there.

    • Kotik3000's avatar
      Kotik3000
      Explorer | Level 3
      Hey Walter,

      Thank you for your reply. Maybe I moved it instead of copying. But I wasn’t expecting that when I move a library from one folder to another on my Mac it will be cut into peaces and most files get lost.

      About event Page. What information shall I look on events page?

      No I haven’t received any errors from my MacOS. Where shall I look for them? I haven’t touched my laptop since it happened hoping that we can restore my photos.
      • Kotik3000's avatar
        Kotik3000
        Explorer | Level 3

        I see that Dropbox created a folder View only conflicts at 08:22 a.m. when I was sleeping. There were NO events between this event and uploading another file event. 

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

    What Rich means, Kotik3000, is that for you to retrieve your files through Dropbox, they would have to be synced to our servers, after being placed in your Dropbox folder.

     

    If they never synced, it's like they never existed in Dropbox.

     

    That's why I suggested looking through your drive, to see if you can locate them there.

    • Kotik3000's avatar
      Kotik3000
      Explorer | Level 3

      Hannah,

      Again.
      The Photo library was moved to the Dropbox folder on my Mac on the evening of 4th November. 70Gb. The folder on my Mac contains only 16+2 = 18Gb and has been split into two libraries since 5th November.

      Do you want me to tell you that MacOS changed the Dropbox folder? Never saw MacOS marking folders view-only-conflicts 7 hours after I moved folder. I think the most obvious explanation is that it's Dropbox, also that what the logs show.

      I am very disappointed that after so many years of loyalty to Dropbox, the only support response I've received places the blame on me and zero wish to fix the issue.

      • Kotik3000's avatar
        Kotik3000
        Explorer | Level 3
        Never saw MacOS marking folders view-only-conflicts 7 hours after I moved folder.