111–120 of 146 posts
My buddy Tom says "If its not on your current computer, its lost". Imagine when Dropbox closes one day (as every company ultimately does), how much will be lost.
Since all the files are sync'ed to the computer, nothing would be lost unless selective sync was enabled.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Dropbox keeps deleted files and previous versions of files for 30 days. With Packrat, a free feature for all paid accounts, Dropbox keeps deleted files for the lifetime of the account. How is Dropbox not a backup provider? It may not be a very good backup provider, depending on your point of view, but it clearly markets itself as a backup provider ("your stuff is always safe in Dropbox and can be restored in a snap")…
Backups should be read only. If I can delete parts of a backup, it's just as susceptible to the same human mistakes that make them necessary in the first place.
I think this bug should be considered completely separately from how unwise it is to use a cloud service as the sole storage of important files. Regardless of the circumstances, losing user files against the wishes of the user is the absolute worst thing a cloud backup provider can do . Even for files that are deleted intentionally and unambiguously by the user, I'm astonished that Dropbox actually deletes the files…
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…
Or, I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow he posts that he found them all in his trash.... Because nobody ever thinks to clear it. Sometimes the simplest solution is right under our nose.
I agree with the OP that that should be a built-in option for all paying customers -- or at least make it more visible as an add-on. I've had instances in the past where it was months later that I realized something was either deleted or didn't sync and I had to look through Events and use Packrat to restore. It can be scary - even if you do make backups of your backups.
I've heard it said that if a file doesn't exist in at least three different places it might as well not exist.
I think this bug should be considered completely separately from how unwise it is to use a cloud service as the sole storage of important files. Regardless of the circumstances, losing user files against the wishes of the user is the absolute worst thing a cloud backup provider can do . Even for files that are deleted intentionally and unambiguously by the user, I'm astonished that Dropbox actually deletes the files…
> I think this bug should be considered completely separately from how unwise it is to use a cloud service as the sole storage of important files. YES: from DropBox's point of view - this is a serious bug even ignoring what other actions the users have/not taken to protect their data. And NO: this sort of thing is one of the key reasons not to use such a service as a sole backup - linking the two when trying to educa…
Very few (if any) users who explicitly delete a file want that file recoverable within 30 days but not after that. They either want the file recoverable for a much longer period of time or they want the deleted file to be irrecoverable immediately. For the latter option, Dropbox offers the ability to "permanently delete" files. It requires at least four clicks to accomplish, displays a warning, and is driven entirely via the website rather than through the Dropbox client.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It concerns me that the top several comments are some variation of "you shouldn't trust the cloud with your data." No, it's "you shouldn't trust one single thing with your data". Hardware fails. OSes have bugs (OS X's "space in your drive name and we delete your user folder.") Services have unexpected gotchas. This is why you never store anything in only one place. A sync service by definition is not a separate pla…
No, it's "you shouldn't trust one single thing with your data" Which is why he has local copies on several systems and the copy in the cloud with Dropbox. The nasty thing here is that Dropbox effectively deleted the "local" backups.
1) Remove the local copies.
2) Keep the remote copies.
3) Stop syncing those folders.
The author explicitly states that the goal was to use the Dropbox copy as the only copy (i.e. the backup).
Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, it's "you shouldn't trust one single thing with your data" Which is why he has local copies on several systems and the copy in the cloud with Dropbox. The nasty thing here is that Dropbox effectively deleted the "local" backups.
Dropbox deleting the local copies are effectively what the author wanted to happen. The author wanted Dropbox to: 1) Remove the local copies. 2) Keep the remote copies. 3) Stop syncing those folders. The author explicitly states that the goal was to use the Dropbox copy as the only copy (i.e. the backup).