Forum Discussion

socksinacan's avatar
socksinacan
Explorer | Level 4
4 years ago

External drive backup complete, but vast difference in sizes

I used Dropbox to backup my external drive with 520GB of content.  The backup is complete and Dropbox says it's in sync, but the size of my back up is only 428GB.  Such a discrepancy scares me.  Is t...
Dropbox Backup
Space and storage
sync
Hannah's avatar
Hannah
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
4 years ago

Hey socksinacan, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

 

Have you checked the sync status of the Dropbox app? 

 

You can see that by hovering your mouse over the Dropbox icon in your system tray/menu bar.

 

Do you see any error messages?

 

Also, what is your computer's OS and version?

 

Thanks in advance!

socksinacan's avatar
socksinacan
Explorer | Level 4
4 years ago
When I hover over the app in the bottom right, it says "Up to date". The Dropbox Backup page shows the drive and says the status is "Done". OS is Windows 11, app version is 148.4.4519.

Also, is there either an option or a third party tool that will let me see information on files and folders in the backup, like size?

Thanks!
  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    4 years ago

    Hi socksinacan, you can view the external drive backup on the site directly. Regarding comparing the two, currently there isn't a Dropbox feature to do so, since if it states it's backed up, it means that the files are already synced successfully.

    • socksinacan's avatar
      socksinacan
      Explorer | Level 4
      4 years ago
      It's weird, though. I did an intense deduplication on the drive, bringing down from 520GB to 436GB. After syncing, the backup on Dropbox went from 426GB to 346GB. So the cleanup was mirrored in the backup, but I still have a 90GB difference between the two, even though Dropbox says they're in sync.
      • Nancy's avatar
        Nancy
        Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
        4 years ago

        Hey socksinacan, and sorry to jump in. 

         

        Is it possible to upload some screenshots of the backup size you see both on Dropbox and your external hard drive, perhaps? 

         

        Also, I’d like you to check the main folders located on your external hard drive and double check their size on Dropbox, so that we can see if there’s a specific folder that’s missing data.

         

        Let me know what you find!

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