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Redditor writes "Filen deleted all of my data. A heads-up for others"
whynotlearn
Member
This hasn't happened to me but I just wanted to share it here.
From the reddit post
Reply from Filen support:
“I’m afraid the data is gone, and there isn't a way to recover it. Your storage usage was sitting right at the 2 TB limit (2.01 TB out of 2.01 TB), which triggered our over-limit process. That process sends a series of reminder emails over about four weeks, and if the account stays over the limit through that period, the data is removed. It looks like that completed on (*Date).
Since Filen is end-to-end encrypted and zero-knowledge, your files were encrypted on your device before reaching our servers. We don't keep separate backups, so once the system removes data there's no way for anyone to restore it.
I'm genuinely sorry. The trigger fired on what was effectively a rounding-edge overage rather than someone being meaningfully over their limit. The reminder emails do state that data will be deleted, but I can see how the urgency wouldn't have read clearly in this case. If there's anything I can do on the account or billing side, let me know.”
Comments
Who is at fault here?
Overreacting hoster. Normally you cant upload before you delete old files. Traditionally, we dont know, whats the real reason to delete user contents. Illegal stuff or not paid in time are appropriate reasons, lastly we dont know.
Since filen isnt a big tech company, but german host running as UG, all can happen.
I mean... It's not the way I would handle it but if it's how they handle things and have sent reminders for weeks...
I dunno man...
I think deleting all files is not justifiable. Like why even allow uploads when usage limit is reached?
Yeah, I agree. I mean a series of emails over four weeks that states the data will be deleted and the op did nothing, and then whine about the data being deleted?
It's just like it always is, no personal responsibility, it's someone else's fault.
Why not just delete the most recent files until under the limit again? Deleting everything is a bit much.
You never, ever touch customer data if the account is current.
Deleting data due to being over quota is inexcusable.
Nobody should ever use Filen.
Isn't that the purpose of a quota... So if it's reached, you're prevented from storing more?
But it is not helpful if their FAQ states otherwise (that says sth. like: no more data can be added if quota reached, but not: all data will be deleted).
Who reads a FAQ but not several emails sent to you warning you what is about to happen?
Mail.ru was more professional (and unprofessional) regarding this.
I had lifetime 100 GB but they cancelled that plan to 20 GB I think so automatically I am crossing the limit even though I shouldn't have been. That is the unprofessional part.
But they didn't delete anything. Till now data is there. I just can't upload anymore. They haven't deleted anything. That is how professionally one should deal.
filen always have random downtime. but their status page says otherwise. they're already red flag provider.
yo removing all data for being over quota is possibly the most ridiculous thing i've heard today, are these guys an official LET host?
anyway what a great way to reduce the number of customers you have to deal with.
dev answer on official reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/filen_io/comments/1t3r055/comment/ok087du/
It is not exactly a confidence instilling one in my opinion (i am not a Filen user and unlikely to ever be) though:
Like this is some crazy complicated problem. Just don't let people exceed their quota (and if it still happens by whatever strange coincidence just eat the $0.00000013 loss a couple KB overuse will result in): Solved...
.... And just lock the uploading functionality until user brings it down to allowed quota. It is THAT simple.
They probably connected openclaw and it decided to delete the data
”Optimize for lower resources”
Also trying to save money on important backup data doesn’t make any sense to me
I’m doing either Backblaze B2 + Cloudflare R2 or Backblaze B2 + Scaleway Object Storage for my stuff, double sekuriti with reputable providers, can’t imagine just putting everything on something like Filen and calling it a day
100% this. Its 1fichier or bust for me too.
https://www.reddit.com/r/filen_io/comments/1t3r055/comment/ok1ne86/
Filen rep quote: "We have issued a full refund for all of the user’s payments for this account and will offer them a free 2 TB Lifetime plan as compensation, should they wish to continue using Filen."
I wonder if the same outcome would have happened without all the public exposure on social media.
Short answer: No. Long answer: Also no.
I mean, it seems like they don't even want to retire their stupid fucking auto delete feature. How much self reflection can there really be?
Lmfao I’m sure he’d enjoy this storage space if what he needed to store on it wasn’t gone😆
This, the only reason filen is offering to give more storage is that they consider it the easiest way to end the situation but this situation that they have found themselves into is in my opinion, such a business destroying disaster tbh.
I wonder how many other people lost data in a similar fashion too. I am personally going to stay away from Filen from now on. Their responses haven't been confidence inspiring too to say the least.
Yeah letting clients exceed limit just seems dumb. That being said wonder if anyone gets annoyed by this and tries to upload a petabyte just to waste space until it's canceled.
When I read the original post, I thought it was absolutely insane that a system could ever be designed in such a way that this could happen, and that the company should be avoided at all costs.
After reading the devs explanation though, I'm far more understanding.
From a users perspective, it's of course completely unacceptable that all their data could be deleted due for "going over the limit" when they paid for a limit.
From a dev perspective, it's clear this was the consequence of a rounding bug caused by an oversight which is easy to make. The system that deleted the data was designed to do so in the case when a user has downgraded their plan but not reduced their data to fit in the downgraded quota after multiple warning emails.
Due to the nature of all data being end-to-end encrypted, a portion of files can't be deleted by the system and even if they could, then it would still have to delete random files instead of all of it, which would arguably be even worse.
Most providers would choose to not allow downgrading to lower quota packages at all, in which case all files are deleted anyway when the renewal isn't paid.
The best solution, and one which Filen should implement, is to only allow downgrading if their files are less than the quota limit of the new package, forcing the user to delete the files they don't want to keep before downgrading.
Yeah, it kind of is but like @emgh said solely relying on some random service to backup your important data is pretty much mental anyways. Chances are those who did up to this point aren't that easy to scare off.
Given they stated the underlying reason to be something as simple as a rounding error and they probably have more than just a handful of clients it is probably save to say that this number is >0. Those people just either realized the mails they were getting meant serious business, quietly swallowed it or haven't even noticed yet.
Well, one could probably still use them for redundancy as some kind of Xth mirror but then i figure they want money for this(?) and what good is a copy where you can't be sure that it hasn't been deleted it by some bonkers logic... I mean, its always possible for DCs to be hit by meteoroids, swept away by floods or chewed up by nutrias but providers just randomly deciding "Well, fuck this data." is kind of an unusual risk factor.
I've seen a person's inbox saying 28k unread messages. The bitch never heard of the spam button or filters.
What if a file exists and is modified to be larger that exceeds the quota? That's more complicated than preventing new files to be created. Or if multiple files get uploaded simultaneously right before the quota is reached?
Well, it might be more complicated but then it is also a good idea to rethink the underlying concepts. I don't really see what could be a problem with modifying files (once the modification tries to exceed the quota it just throws an error) but parallel uploads being a bit iffy is not too far fetched in my opinion.
It happens when writing an essentially threaded application (even if those threads are called upload.php and run in 2 tabs right next to each other) with a locks-are-for-pussies attitude. Solution: Add some kind of locking mechanism that allows them to finish in order causing all uploads that fit to be stored and all that come afterwards to fail.
TL;DR: If those type of things actually happen in production the company has way bigger problems than a bit of deleted user data.