Syncing forever without actually syncing

Hello all,

tl;dr The status reads as syncing but it seems extremely slow and there don't seem to be any actually changes to all my files.

I'm running DB on High Sierra.

I recently reached my accounts limit so I removed some files from my DB folder. It seemed I was so over the limit that I couldn't delete(?) so I also deleted these files from DB online. Still nothing was happening, despite restarting DB, restarting my computer etc.

I tried running an advanced reinstal, following instructions on this page:

https://www.dropbox.com/help/desktop-web/advanced-reinstall

but when I try pasting the commands into Terminal, it claims no such folder exists, despite other terminal commands finding the same folder no problem.

I'm pasting the following (my DB folder is on an external HD, which is named Gus):

sudo chown -R "$USER" “/Volumes/Gus/Dropbox”

I tried with and without quotations but get the same: "no such directory exists". But if I type
cd /Volumes/Gus/Dropbox it gets in there no problem.

Any ideas?!

Thaaaaaaaanks

Delete

desktop

sync

Lusil
8 years ago
Hey there skillbard.

Initially, please note that syncing can take time if you have many or large files. What I’d recommend for now is to give it time. If the sync time is large then please remember to stay logged into your computer, keep it turned on and connected to the Internet - your files will be syncing in the background.

You can find more info on how to check the status of syncing and file uploads here. Furthermore, if you’re using an external hard drive to use the Dropbox desktop app, you can also have a look at this article for more info.

If the issue seems to persist and there is no progress at all, let me know and we’ll take it from there. In the mean time, have a lovely day ahead! :grin:

29 Replies

Lusil
Dropbox Staff
8 years ago
Hey there skillbard.

Initially, please note that syncing can take time if you have many or large files. What I’d recommend for now is to give it time. If the sync time is large then please remember to stay logged into your computer, keep it turned on and connected to the Internet - your files will be syncing in the background.

You can find more info on how to check the status of syncing and file uploads here. Furthermore, if you’re using an external hard drive to use the Dropbox desktop app, you can also have a look at this article for more info.

If the issue seems to persist and there is no progress at all, let me know and we’ll take it from there. In the mean time, have a lovely day ahead! :grin:
skillbard
Explorer | Level 4
8 years ago
Hi Lusil,

It took a couple of days but, yes, it did evenually sync up. V strange but we're all okay again. Thanks for taking the time to respond!
Lusil
Dropbox Staff
8 years ago
Hi again skillbard, glad to hear everything’s working! :laughing:

If you have any other questions in the future, you know where to find us. Have a great day ahead!
shlomofri
New member | Level 2
6 years ago
I have the same problem, it is on MAC OS Catalina, which is beta at this stage, but it is coming in a month, so wanted to give yuo a heads-on... its been syncing for a week now, all I have is 3.5 Gb.
Lusil
Dropbox Staff
6 years ago
Hey shlomofri,

Yes, the OS you're running isn't currently a fully tested or supported environment for the desktop app and, while we support a variety of OSes, we are unable to support these versions until they are officially classified as stable.

Nonetheless, you can always contact our Support team for a more in-depth look using our internal tools.

If you have any other questions in the meantime, please don't hesitate to get back to us. Cheers!
embauba
New member | Level 2
5 years ago
I have the same issue. I run two different usernames and sync different files on each. I recently had to remove some files from DB because it never uploaded a large file for a job, on Profile 2; it cost me its publishing because of delay (4 full days to upload 1 Gb but also because of poor internet bandwith) so when back home with my usual fast internet, moved my files back to DB, I get 130K files which havent uploaded at all - not a single one - for over 10 days now. On the other hand, my other user (Profile 1) has DB updated just fine. How do I deal with this?
Thanks! Pedro from Rio, Brazil.
Lusil
Dropbox Staff
5 years ago
Hey embauba, thanks for reaching out to us and sorry to hear about your experience.

Could you let me know what the Dropbox icon says when you hover over it, on the profile that you're having trouble with?

Let me know what you find, cheers!
henrycorps
Explorer | Level 3
5 years ago
I'm having the same issue. All my files are synced, but the app says it's syncing 5 files for weeks now. I'm pretty sure I don't have any filmes so large that could take so long to sync. Any new files added to the folder are synced normally.
I'm using a PC with Windows 10, with a 1Tb Seagate Barracuda HDD (Dropbox is installed in the secondary disk, D:)
Lusil
Dropbox Staff
5 years ago
Hey henrycorps, thanks for joining us on this thread.

If you've made sure that you're running the latest version of the desktop app (111.4.472) by hovering over the Dropbox icon that's next to your computer's clock, could you try these steps?
henrycorps
Explorer | Level 3
5 years ago
Hi, there! Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I'm using the latest version.