If you’re an avid Dropbox user, then you have probably figured out that the site and service aren’t working properly right now. As in, not at all, but it’s not completely “down.” A lot of tech professionals use the service to share files with distributed teams. It’s a lifesaver when you aren’t sitting right next to your colleague.

Yes, 100 percent up-time is probably impossible, but once a few people start noticing a service disruption like this, and the company talks about it, then there is a broader discussion to be had.

The company has tweeted about the issue, which has been going on for the last hour:

Client Syncing, and Uploading via the website, will be affected for approximately the next hour. Thank you for your patience.

—
Dropbox (@DropboxOps) January 10, 2013

In a follow-up, the company says that its team is working on the issue:

Our engineers are still working on the issue. Your data is safe, syncing/ uploading from the webpage/desktop application are affected.

—
Dropbox (@DropboxOps) January 10, 2013

This causes concern for those who aren’t fully trusting all of their filesharing in the “cloud” yet, because when something goes down, like Dropbox has, accessing your files is impossible. Basically, you’re relegated to emailing your co-workers and friends for an attachment of the file that you need, just like the old days. I was personally not able to log into the service on my desktop client.

For applications that are using Dropbox’s API to include filesharing, they’re going to see issues too. Basically, this is a cascading problem that affects everyone that touches any of Dropbox’s service.

It’s nice that the company is keeping everyone updated on what’s going on, as the first fear that you have when a service like this goes down is the safety of your files. We’ve reached out to the company for further comment and will update you as we learn more.

Frustrated developers and paying customers are starting to tweet about it, too:

Right in the middle of passing edits back and forth, @Dropbox goes down… again… 

—
  (@Shibaguyz) January 11, 2013

Dropbox is down. Why am I paying for this?

—
Painted Saw Media (@PaintedSawMedia) January 11, 2013

These are the same reactions we see whenever Gmail goes down, because people rely on the service heavily to do their jobs and communicate with the rest of the world. Even if an email service goes down for five minutes, there will be people who are affected.

Where’s your cloud now?

UPDATE 1: There’s more issues, according to the company:

Creating/joining shared folders, and creating shareable links to files, also affected. We appreciate you patience as we resolve this issue.

—
Dropbox (@DropboxOps) January 11, 2013

UPDATE 2: Dropbox issued the following statement:

We are aware of an issue currently affecting people’s use of Dropbox. We apologize for any inconvenience you may be experiencing as we work to resolve this issue. For the latest updates, please see https://twitter.com/dropboxops.

Update 3: Shareable links should be back:

You should be able to create shareable links again. Our engineers are actively working to resolve remaining issues as quickly as possible.

—
Dropbox (@DropboxOps) January 11, 2013

UPDATE 3: It looks like all issues have been resolved:

Thanks all for your patience. We’re happy to let you know that all issues have now been fixed!

—
Dropbox (@DropboxOps) January 11, 2013

[Photo credit: Flickr]

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