10-03-2012, 08:11 PM
M A V I C wrote:
[quote=macbeergeek2]
Another thing that's VERY alarming to me with dropbox is that when I stop sharing files, it delete the local copies. That cannot ever happen! I don't want some glitch in the dropbox app or server wiping out my local files. Any idea if there's a way to tell it to stop sharing something, but not actually delete the files? Same with deleting files out of dropbox - I want them to stay local.
For example, I used the phone photo upload thing to get some more free storage. Then I deleted those files using the web GUI. It also deleted the files on my harddrive. That should never, ever, ever happen.
Dropbox is doing exactly what it's designed to do in this scenario... syncronize the shared info. If you delete that info from any one of the shared locations, it syncs the other location.
Lesson learned: don't ever keep anything in a Dropbox folder that you don't also have backed up somewhere else.
I think of their servers as a different type of location. If I deleted it from a client, I would expect it to be removed everywhere. If it's removed from the server, it should remain on the clients... or at least ask.
Dropbox does not purport to be anything except a synchronization service/tool. In the same way that a file is updated across all devices when you save it, it should be removed from all devices when you delete it from one of them. The moment it ceases to do that, it could no longer be viewed as a synchronization tool.
Dropbox does offer an "undelete" option through the web interface that allows you to go back 30 days in the free version (I believe that's the correct time period) to restore a deleted file.