Corrupted Image In Dropbox

If you look at the above screenshot, that is what happen to a few of my photos in different folder within the Dropbox’s Photos folder. Recently I upgraded my Dropbox plan to 50GB for US$99/year and hence I am able to place all my photos in Dropbox for syncing them across all my computers.

Here is what happened previously:

There will be a “red x” beside some of the photos, and when I open it, only the top part of the image will appear while the bottom remains grey throughout.

Under my Dropbox folder, the status will be saying “Uploading 2 files”. These 2 photos are corrupted and will never be uploaded.

How I got rid of the “red x” was to copy the corrupted photos from my backup drive and paste it back to my Dropbox and it immediately change to a green tick. I am guessing it didn’t even sync back to Dropbox because Dropbox detected that the photo I pasted from my backup drive has the correct checksum which is stored locally in Dropbox’s database.

Something more serious happened to me few days ago and it is the same problem:

I went to a concert last Saturday and took some photos. When I got home, I extracted the photos and placed it in a folder on my Desktop.

After I uploaded the photos to Facebook, I copied the whole folder and placed it in my Dropbox’s Photos folder.

After a few hours, I realized that there are 2 photos that are not being synced and there is a “red x” besides them. I viewed the photo and to my horror, it was the same problem as what I mentioned above.

As these photos are new, I do not have a backup and I have to use a data recovery software to recover the data from my CF memory card and put it back into Dropbox.

I have learned my lesson and I will ensure that all the photos in Dropbox is properly sync first before I delete the copy I have.

I did searched on Dropbox Forums but can’t seem to find anyone which has the same problem as me and hence I filed a ticket with Dropbox and they replied me with instructions on how to resync/reindex my Dropbox. Just sharing it with you guys

Windows PC

  1. Download the newest version of the Dropbox desktop application:

  2. Stop the Dropbox desktop application (if needed)

    • Click on the Dropbox icon
    • Choose Exit
  3. Delete Dropbox meta-data folder:

    • Open a Windows File Explorer (not Internet Explorer)
    • Type %APPDATA% into the navigation bar (include the % percent signs)
    • Look for the folder “Dropbox” and delete it.

    If you get a “file in use” type error, then do this:

    • Run “Programs -> Dropbox -> Uninstall”
    • Restart your computer
    • Try again to remove %APPDATA%\Dropbox

    If it still says “file in use”, then do this:

    • Press “Ctrl + Alt + Delete” together
    • Choose “Start Task Manager”
    • Find the task “explorer.exe”
    • Click “End Task” button
    • Your “Start Menu” will now be gone
    • Clik “File -> Run”
    • Type %APPDATA%
    • Now look for the folder “Dropbox” and delete it.
    • Press “Ctrl + Alt + Delete” together again
    • Click on the button at the bottom right hand corner of the screen, and choose restart
    • Your computer will now restart
  4. If your Dropbox folder was called “My Dropbox” please rename it to “Dropbox”
  5. Reinstall the Dropbox desktop application

    • Run the new installer from step #1
    • Relink your account.

Mac OS

  1. Download the newest version of the Dropbox desktop application:

  2. Stop the Dropbox desktop application (if needed)

    • Click on the Dropbox icon
    • Choose Quit
  3. Delete Dropbox meta-data folder:

    • To delete this folder open up Terminal (Located at /Applications/Utilities/Terminal)
    • Copy and paste the following lines into Terminal and press RETURN:

      • rm -r “$HOME/.dropbox”
  4. Delete the Dropbox Contextual Menu Item Plugin

    • Open the Finder and select “Go to folder…” from the Go menu (or press Shift-Command-G)
    • A dialog box should appear. Now copy and paste the following line into the box and press the return key:

      • /Library/
    • Drag the DropboxHelperTools folder to the Trash and enter your Administrator password if prompted to complete this action
  5. Reinstall the Dropbox desktop application

    • Open the Dropbox .dmg file and drag the new version of Dropbox to /Applications
    • Restart Dropbox from /Applications
    • Relink your account.