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andyyy's avatar
andyyy
Helpful | Level 6
8 years ago
Solved

Dropbox re-syncs 10,000+ files after every reboot

Dropbox re-syncs 10,000+ files after every reboot - files that I haven't touched, and it always looks to be the same directories affected, not the whole Dropbox. This also seems to happen after I p...
desktop
sync
  • Elixir's avatar
    Elixir
    8 years ago

    I am not sure what types of files you have, and how they are being modified, but I have seen posts where people had problems using Github and Dropbox together. In principle, if a file is not modified, it does not require to be re-indexed/re-uploaded by Dropbox. Note that even if you are not making any changes to those files, but some other program may be changing some meta information (like time/date stamp etc.) on those files. Are there symlinks present in your Dropbox directory? FYI, Dropbox does not support symlinks. Also, note that if you have more than 300,000 files, the performance of your Desktop app may degrade. I think it is better to move your working project directory out of Dropbox, and make manual backup (by copying, also you can reduce the file number by creating single zip of the whole folder having 40k+ files) in Dropbox if that is a viable option for you. 

andyyy's avatar
andyyy
Helpful | Level 6
8 years ago

Hey Jane, yes, issues still apparent as described.

 

Jane's avatar
Jane
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
8 years ago
Thanks for your swift update here Andy (andyyy) & I hope you have a wonderful October ahead! ☂️
 
As you &  Elixir have tried some troubleshooting on this thread, let me have a closer look on your setup through our Official channel. In order to investigate having all our tools available, I’ve made sure to reach out to you directly via email on my end. 
 
Whenever you find some time, please check your inbox for my email & I’ll make sure to promptly get back in touch with you asap. Thanks for reaching out on our Community & I’ll be awaiting your next reply!
  • andyyy's avatar
    andyyy
    Helpful | Level 6
    8 years ago

    To those that stumble upon this - I didn't realise I had symlinks in my node_modules folders, and it is most likely these causing the issues - as Elixir mentioned, symlinks aren't officially supported by Dropbox, and I can't do without the symlinks, so we are not troubleshooting any further.

  • Jeff G.14's avatar
    Jeff G.14
    New member | Level 2
    7 years ago

    I'm having this problem but I can't figure out why.  Can you help me debug?

    1-how do I figure out where the 18,000 files are that Dropbox is trying to sync?

    2-is there a way to search for simlinks in my dropbox folder?

    We use git but I didn't think I had any git work in my Dropbox folder...maybe it was shared with me...I need help to find it.

  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    7 years ago
    Hey Jeff (Jeff G.14), let me follow-up in a bit more depth on this issue; thanks for the nudge!
     
    For starters, can you confirm whether you’re facing this issue upon startup? Does the issue you’re experiencing match andyyy’s (meaning the OP's) description by any chance or is it different?
     
    If you’re seeing that the application on your system tray is syncing a large number of files without your input Jeff, then your best course of action would be cross-checking your syncing icons :arrows_counterclockwise:/ :white_check_mark: (i.e. the files/ folders with the blue arrow should be the ones syncing to your account online), as maybe an accidental drag & drop is the culprit. 
     
    From there, if you suspect that the app has been stuck on one filename or it’s not syncing as it should, I’d suggest unlinking & relinking your account on your desktop & rebooting once, as it recreates the local database. 
     
    Following, please have a look at this resource to generate a list of any existing Symlinks in your Dropbox folder Jeff. Kindly bear in mind we’d recommend avoiding their usage, as we’ve noticed performance discrepancies. 
     
    Once you find the time to check back on how these pointers work for you, please let me know of the outcome on this discussion here & I’ll make sure to check back with you asap. Thanks & happy Friday!

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