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How a bug in Dropbox permanently deleted my 8000 photos

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Re: How a bug in Dropbox permanently deleted my 8000 photos

#71

Post by zperrault »

I noticed there hasn't been any mention of attempting to recover your deleted files from your local disk. If you haven't tried it yet it is worth a shot. There are a few software solutions out there that will scan your disk for files that have been deleted. On Windows I have used Piriform's Recuva[1] and on OS X I have used PhotoRec[2], both have worked rather well. It is worth noting that the longer you wait to try the more likely the sectors are to be overwritten with new data. (And you should back up any files currently on the disk). I know it is a long shot at this point but some chance is better than none. Good luck.

[1] http://www.piriform.com/recuva [2] http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/PhotoRec

Re: How a bug in Dropbox permanently deleted my 8000 photos

#72

Post by smackfu »

bruceboughton wrote: post #25
egypturnash wrote: post #19

Sync is not backup. Sync is not backup. Sync is not backup. My strategy: a big external drive used for Time Machine, and a subscription to Backblaze. Both of these are all about retaining multiple versions, recovering from accidental deletion, and continuously backing up in the background. Dropbox is about syncing stuff between computers.

I too am a Backblaze customer but beware: backups of deleted files are deleted after 30 days.

That's kind of surprising given how their hardware model is setup, with pods of HDDs that are filled up and then essentially archived away. I guess the amount of space freed up is enough that it makes sense to open those pods back up for writing.

Re: How a bug in Dropbox permanently deleted my 8000 photos

#73

Post by [deleted] »

icebraining wrote: post #67
Aardwolf wrote: post #42

I don't trust anything called "sync". I trust file operations "move", "copy" and "remove". But "sync" could mean anything: which side is syncing to which side? If something is not present on one side, will it delete it on the other? I wish the term didn't exist, and apps/clients/... would copy or even just load or show things, and if you want to "sync", then rsync with clear source and destination. Same with mail for…

Here "sync" means what Dropbox says it means. The answers to your questions are well defined in their software, even if to some other software, they might be different. I wish the term didn't exist, and apps/clients/... would copy or even just load or show things, and if you want to "sync", then rsync with clear source and destination. The source and destination is always clear. It's to the server and from the server…

[deleted]

Re: How a bug in Dropbox permanently deleted my 8000 photos

#74

Post by Aardwolf »

icebraining wrote: post #67
Aardwolf wrote: post #42

I don't trust anything called "sync". I trust file operations "move", "copy" and "remove". But "sync" could mean anything: which side is syncing to which side? If something is not present on one side, will it delete it on the other? I wish the term didn't exist, and apps/clients/... would copy or even just load or show things, and if you want to "sync", then rsync with clear source and destination. Same with mail for…

Here "sync" means what Dropbox says it means. The answers to your questions are well defined in their software, even if to some other software, they might be different. I wish the term didn't exist, and apps/clients/... would copy or even just load or show things, and if you want to "sync", then rsync with clear source and destination. The source and destination is always clear. It's to the server and from the server…

"The source and destination is always clear. It's to the server and from the server."

That's exactly what I mean by not clear: to the server and from the server are the exact opposites. So if something is not present on one side, it can do two things to make both sides equal: it can delete it from the one side, or it can copy it to the other side. If all it has is a "sync" button, not a "sync to server" or "sync from server" button, it's not clear what it will do.

Something that deletes files shouldn't be called sync, but should clearly be marked as a delete operation. And deleting something from one location should not have the surprise effect of deleting it on other locations too, unless it's called "remove everywhere".

Re: How a bug in Dropbox permanently deleted my 8000 photos

#75

Post by JoeAltmaier »

Aardwolf wrote: post #74
icebraining wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here "sync" means what Dropbox says it means. The answers to your questions are well defined in their software, even if to some other software, they might be different. I wish the term didn't exist, and apps/clients/... would copy or even just load or show things, and if you want to "sync", then rsync with clear source and destination. The source and destination is always clear. It's to the server and from the server…

"The source and destination is always clear. It's to the server and from the server." That's exactly what I mean by not clear: to the server and from the server are the exact opposites. So if something is not present on one side, it can do two things to make both sides equal: it can delete it from the one side, or it can copy it to the other side. If all it has is a "sync" button, not a "sync to server" or "sync from…

File sync with multiple devices is fraught with danger. Remember the old 'briefcase' on the Windows desktop? There's just no way to distinguish 'I don't want this file on this device' from "I don't want this file on any device'".

Re: How a bug in Dropbox permanently deleted my 8000 photos

#77

Post by icebraining »

Aardwolf wrote: post #74
icebraining wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here "sync" means what Dropbox says it means. The answers to your questions are well defined in their software, even if to some other software, they might be different. I wish the term didn't exist, and apps/clients/... would copy or even just load or show things, and if you want to "sync", then rsync with clear source and destination. The source and destination is always clear. It's to the server and from the server…

"The source and destination is always clear. It's to the server and from the server." That's exactly what I mean by not clear: to the server and from the server are the exact opposites. So if something is not present on one side, it can do two things to make both sides equal: it can delete it from the one side, or it can copy it to the other side. If all it has is a "sync" button, not a "sync to server" or "sync from…

if something is not present on one side, it can do two things to make both sides equal: it can delete it from the one side, or it can copy it to the other side. If all it has is a "sync" button, not a "sync to server" or "sync from server" button, it's not clear what it will do.

It's only not clear because you're using "sync" in an abstract sense. In Dropbox, it is clear: if the side had the file and it disappeared, it's considered a deletion. If it never had it, it's assumed it should receive a copy.

There's no ambiguity in the context of Dropbox, even if there is in the term "sync" generally.

Something that deletes files shouldn't be called sync, but should clearly be marked as a delete operation.

Why? A deletion is just another action comparable to adding a file, moving it, etc. Sure it may lose data, but if you edit a file, replace the contents and copy it to the other side with overwrite, it can lose data too. That's why Dropbox provides a 30-day backup feature.

Re: How a bug in Dropbox permanently deleted my 8000 photos

#78

Post by icebraining »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #75
Aardwolf wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The source and destination is always clear. It's to the server and from the server." That's exactly what I mean by not clear: to the server and from the server are the exact opposites. So if something is not present on one side, it can do two things to make both sides equal: it can delete it from the one side, or it can copy it to the other side. If all it has is a "sync" button, not a "sync to server" or "sync from…

File sync with multiple devices is fraught with danger. Remember the old 'briefcase' on the Windows desktop? There's just no way to distinguish 'I don't want this file on this device' from "I don't want this file on any device'".

In Dropbox, it's very simple: the former is simply not supported at all. Your file should be in all devices or none (mobile excepted).

Re: How a bug in Dropbox permanently deleted my 8000 photos

#79

Post by jackweirdy »

snowwrestler wrote: post #68
_delirium wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By that definition, most corporate backup systems aren't backups! It's pretty common to overwrite old tape backups with newer backups, and yes, that does mean you need to be organized enough to make sure you don't accidentally overwrite the only backup of something.

Maybe a better way to put it is that backups are isolated from current "production" data operations. Backups are not invulnerable, so yes, it's still possible to overwrite the backups, but that involves engaging the backup system specifically. Just doing file operations or settings changes on the production system won't do it. Dropbox is not isolated from production data operations. In fact the whole point is to sync…

Yeah; that's a better way of putting it. rm -rf'ing my production box's hard drive shouldn't nuke the backups.

Re: How a bug in Dropbox permanently deleted my 8000 photos

#80

Post by steven2012 »

In today's digital age, I believe lots and lots of people will lose a lot of valuable information like photos because they don't have a good understanding of what backing up means.

I've warned my friend who is computer illiterate that he is risking losing his childrens' complete photo collection for their entire lives because he is only keeping a single copy of his data on his hard drive. This is probably the situation with millions of people in the US alone, and when that hard drive failure event happens, which will happen, then they will lose everything.

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