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TheAtanaGroup's avatar
TheAtanaGroup
New member | Level 2
8 years ago
Solved

Can't sync due to low disk space

Very annoying. Dropbox is giving me the 'can't sync due to low disk space' message - this is on a new system with a 1TB drive with 260G available. We have a 50G biz account, and we're using about 4% of it. ATM, this is the only machine attached to it. 

 

Please fix this, guys. OneDrive/MS doesn't need any more money.

  • Sanchez's avatar
    Sanchez
    8 years ago
    Hey everyone (TheAtanaGroup & Roryb), 

    We’ll be glad to take a closer look. If you would you like for our team to investigate this further, you can either submit a ticket here, or I can get one going for you from my end. Let me know. 

    Thanks

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  • frustrateduser0's avatar
    frustrateduser0
    New member | Level 2
    8 years ago

    I've got plenty of space on my MBP but cannot download the file using the app, when while using Selective Sync. Tried thrice already. Very frustrating. Screenshots attached for reference. 

     

  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    8 years ago
    Thanks for sharing what you’re experiencing frustrateduser0, TheAtanaGroup & Roryb
     
    Let me briefly summarize what I gather from your descriptions & frustrateduser0’s screenshot, as I’m under the impression that you’re all experiencing the same behavior: 
     
    To my understanding, in the Dropbox notifications panel on your desktop you’re receiving a message that reads: 
     
    Your hard drive is full! Use Smart Sync to free up space.
     
    That all being said, I’m assuming that you all have the available space to sync on the drive your Dropbox folder is allocated (that is my understanding based on TheAtanaGroup’s last post here). 
     
    For that reason I’ve made sure to create 3 separate Support requests on our system on your behalf & I’ll make sure to check back with you there more closely once I receive your replies. 
     
    Thanks again for posting your findings & troubleshooting you’ve already done here & I’ll be awaiting your next messages. Happy May! 
  • Roryb's avatar
    Roryb
    Explorer | Level 4
    8 years ago

    This seems to come up whenever i start approaching 80 Gb of free disk space. Now popping up again when I am trying to sync  <1Gb of new files. 

     

  • Roryb's avatar
    Roryb
    Explorer | Level 4
    8 years ago

    And now getting suggestions for SmartSync - needless to say not something I want to use as a) I don't need to - plenty of space and b) it doesn't work offline. 

     

     

  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    8 years ago
    Hey Roryb, thanks for reaching back out to me here & I hope you’re having a great Monday so far!
     
    I’ve made sure to run a search on our system on my end, I’ve located your newest open ticket & I’ve made sure to reply to you there. This way, I’ll send you the most appropriate next steps based on the info I have on my tools & help you reach a resolution as quickly as possible. 
     
    Whenever you find some time, please check your inbox for my email & I’ll make sure to promptly follow-up with you from where we’ve left off here. 
     
    Thanks again for your detailed messages & I’m wishing you a fruitful week ahead! 
  • MitchMcAlistair's avatar
    MitchMcAlistair
    New member | Level 2
    8 years ago

    What I've found, through trail and error, that with the 'ordinary' sync'ing, you need x2(ish) the amont of space when trying to get a file uploading and syncing in your Dropbox folder. To explain this 'x2'...

     

    I had a 254GB file to upload. It wasn't until I freed up the same amount of free space on my 1TB drive that it sync'd up. Now I'm hoping that's because there's a lot of error checking going on, that as it goes up there's a 'ghost' file produced of the same size, which is then deleted once the file is up. On small files, this is no problem, but on large files watch out.

     

    Would be best if Dropbox were a little more transparent on this as I wasted an awful lot of time working it out. A simple warning about large files sizes syncing would suffice. So now smar sync is here, I'm on board trying it out.

  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    8 years ago
    Hey Mitch,

    Thats not something I've ever seen on here before, but, it would make some sense. Thank you for posting :)

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