A few months ago I installed Proton Drive on my new PC. It started having issues so I sent it back in for repair. I uninstalled Proton Drive then deleted my files for privacy.
Last week I installed Proton Drive again. To my surprise, it scrambled all of my files locally and remote. All my root folders were deleted and my root is now filled with “Delete conflict” files and folders.
I reported this to Proton immediately. After giving them my logs and details support told me…
- This is expected: “Proton Drive is designed to synchronize ALL changes, even after long periods of not syncing”
- No rollback is possible: “Please note that we are unable to revert this behavior. You will have to restore the files manually”
- They plan to address this: “Regardless, we will absolutely be making improvements to avoid such problems in the future.”
For me I have about 100 files to address, which is manageable, but for others I’m sure this would be a showstopper. The delete conflicts don’t have version history either, so I have to figure out how to weave everything back together.
The way I understand it, I think the real issue here is that Proton Drive should clear the sync state or identity when uninstalled. The identification of the PC should be unique to each install, so that when you reinstall it later it understands that it is now a “new” system needing to be reworked from scratch, and that the empty folder is awaiting initial download, not mass cloud deletion. Would that lead to multiple copies in the “Computers” backup section? Sure, but that can be a good thing too, or at least better than wiping the drive, and more easily remedied.