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raphaelp's avatar
raphaelp
Explorer | Level 4
6 years ago

Not enough space to access folder

I have a basic (free) account with 5gb limit.  Somehow, my main folder (unshared) was allowed to go beyond that to 7gb, and is now locked up with the message above. I have the obvious recourse of purchasing more space, and presumably, this will "unlock" my data.

 

It's very strange that storage capacity be allowed to go beyond the quoted limit, then I be unable to access the folder in order to either retrieve/clean up the data? This is clearly hijacking and forcing me to buy a plan from dropbox. I'm not even allowed to look into the directory and delete wha'ts not needed? It's just being held randsom. I'm not going to pay dropbox a cent for this kind of aggressive treatment. Either let me in to my folder to access what you made available in the first place per your end user aggreement, and allow me to remove data and meet quotas, or decide you don't ever want to have me as a paying customer.

10 Replies

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  • Lusil's avatar
    Lusil
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    6 years ago

    Hi raphaelp, thanks for reaching out to us. 

     

    I understand that you can't access the shared folder, but could you clarify if you're able to find it in your Files tab, or if it's in your Share tab with the option to be added?

     

    Looking forward to hearing back from you!

  • raphaelp's avatar
    raphaelp
    Explorer | Level 4
    6 years ago

    Hello Lusll,

    Thanks for responding. It's actually a shared folder that has been there for years. I'm not sure how it balloned past the allotted quota since it has been in disuse. I even remember removing some things out of it in order to keep it below quota. I haven't used drop box in a while, and now that I have a collaboration project with a team of artists and we are setting up a pipeline, it seems I'll be unable to use dropbox when they share something with me.

  • Lusil's avatar
    Lusil
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    6 years ago

    If you only need to view the content, you can ask the owner to send you a shared link to it, instead. 

     

    As for the folder, do you see it in your Share tab with the option to add it by any chance? 

  • raphaelp's avatar
    raphaelp
    Explorer | Level 4
    6 years ago

    I only have the option to remove it. Which I did. I can't tell whether there are things I needed access to, but at this point it no longer matters. Thanks for explaining how this works.

  • Lusil's avatar
    Lusil
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    6 years ago

    No worries, raphaelp. That's what we're here for after all. 

     

    If anything else comes up in the future, don't hesitate to give us another nudge. 

     

    In the meantime, I hope you have a lovely day ahead!

  • Becca5's avatar
    Becca5
    New member | Level 2
    5 years ago

    Hello,

     

    Someone has sent me an email with access to a Dropbox file.

    When I open it and launch Dropbox it say "not enough space to access the folder" and asks me to upgrade.

    However the person who sent it to me says that they haven't upgraded but use "smartsync and select online only".

    Please can someone advise how I do this as I can't seem to work it out!

     

    Thank you

     

    Rebecca

  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    5 years ago

    The message is from Dropbox not the computer....

     

    So, that person has a larger quota than you - hence they can store it. You either need to get more space at www.dropbox.com/gs or www.dropbox.com/plans. Shared folders use the quotas for all.

  • chascoadmin's avatar
    chascoadmin
    New member | Level 2
    5 years ago

    I have been blocked from accessing my personal folders because of this which basically keeps me from cleaning them up. Horrible policy holding my data for ransom.

  • raphaelp's avatar
    raphaelp
    Explorer | Level 4
    5 years ago

    There is a simple solution:

    If you have a personal website, you are already paying for hosted hard drive space and can use an FTP client to share a folder with people. Bye bye Dropbox.

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