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Fowzie T.'s avatar
Fowzie T.
Helpful | Level 6
9 years ago
Solved

Smart Sync storage issue on macOS Sierra 10.12- macOS High Sierra 10.13.3.

I'm really confused, the premise of smart sync is to free up local storage. This is a screenshot of a folder which contains about 2GB of data.  Am I doing something wrong?   https://www.dropbox.c...
Mac
sync
  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    8 years ago
    Howdy folks,
     
    I’m , I’m working on the Community team at Dropbox & I’m posting here so as to stir this discussion towards a different route. Without further ado, I’m going to split this thread off into a number of different ones, as I’d like to avoid any confusion in regards to the topic or the status of this conversation. 
     
    Why are you splitting the thread?
    For context, this thread has been around since last February & a number of very separate (and now resolved) Smart Sync issues have been reported here. This separation was triggered as we like to group distinct issues together to better help users discover relevant content, advice and to help self-resolve.
     
    Don’t worry, no information is being removed, we are however moving some posts into other threads & for that reason, I’m going to include links to all the new threads at the bottom here. 
     
    As an example, this thread contains a lot of information & troubleshooting around an issue we experienced on Mac OS 10.13.3, something now resolved. We wouldn’t want people on 10.13.4 to attempt troubleshooting steps that weren’t relevant to their current state.
      
    But I still have my issue!
    We’ve moved all the open discussions into separate threads listed at the bottom. Apologies if we missed yours! Regardless, anyone who has opened a ticket with Support, that ticket will remain open and is unrelated to this split. 
     
    So, has this been solved forever? 
    The initial behavior reported here has been, however this thread has become a single point for a vast number of other Smart Sync posts,  some of which should have their own threads, some open, some now resolved.
     
    Where do I post Smart Sync comments now?
    Either in one of the below threads - or, if they don’t match the behavior you're getting, you may feel free to create a new one! :slight_smile: As this thread will remain public, you may also use it as a point of reference, so as to let us know of any troubleshooting steps you've followed from those mentioned above. 
     
    Thanks for your co-operation and please keep the discussion going in the below, or new, threads!
     
     
  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    8 years ago
    For note, issues caught up in this thread, that should have had their own threads included:
     
    Issue 1: I can’t enable Smart Sync at all: 
    • Usually this was the result of an incorrect installation & in such cases, re-installing anew helped fix the issue. Alternatively, if you were running a Beta version of the Dropbox app on your desktop, you may need to check if this works on the most updated Stable version (Note: It's currently 48.4.58). 
    • Status: :white_check_mark:
    Issue 2: I’m on a Professional plan & I can’t get Smart Sync to work either: 
    • Some users on the Professional plan were experiencing an issue utilizing Smart Sync, as they had needed to enable System Extensions previously, which has been documented on this resource. 
    • Status:  :white_check_mark:
    Issue 3: I’ve made my files online-only, though they’re still using up my storage locally: 
    • In some cases, users reported that Smart Synced files might be locally stored in the cache folder a little longer, hence taking up space. Clearing the cache folder should resolve this issue. 
    • Status: :white_check_mark:
  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    8 years ago
    Issue 4: I followed the instructions on your resources & set up my files as online-only, though I can see that they’re still taking up space on my pc/ Mac.
    • The Properties (Win) and Get Info (Mac OS) panel will indicate the actual file size instead of the size on disk, as you may expect. “Size on disk” is the space being taken up by a placeholder file and should be around 0kb.
    • Status: :white_check_mark:
    Issue 5: I can see that my Dropbox folder on my Mac OSX (v.42.4.114) reported file & folder size incorrectly, making it look like files were still residing on my hard disk.
    • After further investigation, we were able to determine that the Finder was showing the wrong size on disk for folders with compressed files.
    • Status: :white_check_mark:
    Issue 6: I can’t back-up my online-only files on the TimeMachine migration assistant & whenever it tries to access them, this action brings them back locally. 
    • This is related to the way TimeMachine reads file sizes and is an on-going issue, though this issue lies with Apple’s software. De-selecting the Dropbox folder when restoring if possible will work around this issue.
    • Status: :arrows_counterclockwise:
    Issue 7: Third-party disk management apps report Smart Synced files are present locally.
    • Some third-party app may read the nominal file size rather than the physical size. This is not a Dropbox issue, but down to the way some apps are built.
    • Status: :white_check_mark:

    That's all from me! As usual, I'll be around in case you'd need me to clarify matters in more detail, so feel free to ping me & I'll do my best to check back with you.

Ross_S's avatar
Ross_S
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
9 years ago

 

Hi All,

 

I'm a member of the Dropbox application specialist team so I wanted to provide further clarity here for users on macOS 10.11.

 

Many thanks for spotting this issue. 

 

While it shows the full size on disk, the folder is not taking up that space if all the files inside are set to "online only" with Smart Sync.

 

We advised Apple of this issue and they have since remedied it for subsequent OS versions, from macOS 10.12 and onward. This fix is not backwards compatible so it doesn't apply to 10.11 and before.

 

Rest assured Smart Sync is operating correctly when you open the folder and see grey cloud icons on all the files within it. This indicates that they are online only and taking up no space locally. When right clicking and selecting ‘Get Info’ on them you will see that files within the folder show as taking up 0kbs on disk.

 

Apologies for any confusion or inconvenience that this has caused.

 

If you are on 10.12 then Smart Sync should show 0kb on the folder when viewing the folder size. In the event that it does not show 0kb or that it takes up space then please feel free to write in to support and address the support request "For the attention of Luke" and myself or one our team here will handle this personally for you.

 

Many thanks.

 

HoosierRon's avatar
HoosierRon
Helpful | Level 6
9 years ago

The attached photo shows:

  • My computer is running 10.12.3
  • The folder RHLO admin is set to Online Only
  • My computer thinks it is taking up 96.8 MB

Thanks for trying.

  • Ross_S's avatar
    Ross_S
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    9 years ago
    If you want to submit a ticket via /Support I'll happily have a look into this for you?
  • Fowzie T.'s avatar
    Fowzie T.
    Helpful | Level 6
    9 years ago

    Ross, as you mentioned a message was sent this morning for the explicit attention of Luke and the usual patronising and disconnected auto response has been sent back by a colleague called Melina. No attempt was made to understand what I had wrote or to clearly see that this needed to be passed on. This is why I don't contact support.  See response below to ticket 5676210 for Dropbox Business support.

     

    She went back to the very beginning to explain the difference between smart sync and selective sync :(

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Ross_S's avatar
    Ross_S
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    9 years ago

    Thanks Fowzie, now I have that ticket I'll take the case over and we'll see what you and I can do here to get this resolved.

     

    I'll reach out to you on that ticket.

  • Fowzie T.'s avatar
    Fowzie T.
    Helpful | Level 6
    9 years ago
    Fantastic :) it's great to have some expert help.
  • SteveA's avatar
    SteveA
    Helpful | Level 5
    9 years ago

    I'm also on 10.12.3 and still have the same issue. While I agree that there are 0 bytes actually on my harddrive, if the system thinks that the file is taking up space, the result is the same -- lack of space.

     

     

  • Ross_S's avatar
    Ross_S
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    9 years ago

    Ok, then I'll send you an email SteveA, lets get this fixed for you, we want to make sure you enjoy using the feature!

  • RobertJF's avatar
    RobertJF
    New member | Level 2
    9 years ago

    If it's useful to hear another example - I just was added to a new folder on my team that was set to cloud only - it still has the cloud only symbol but immediately finder was reporting that it took up around 30GB of space - too quick for 30GB to have been downloaded. This is also not a hard link vs symlink problem that is cosmetic. I just hard linked via terminal a 20GB file and the hard link says in finder that the "size" is 20GB. However, in the volume information, the free space did not decrease by 20GB since the hard link is simply a kind of "pointer" to the same sectors on disk. Dropbox is essentially doing whatever the hard drive version of "malloc" is, and then not actually putting any bytes there.

  • dropinthebucket's avatar
    dropinthebucket
    Helpful | Level 6
    9 years ago

    Ross -- I'm having some issues with smart sync as well as a business user.  I have been trying for the better part of two months to get assistance on the issue with DB phone support.  I have a ticket number.  I was once told to restart my computer to resolve the issue -- and secondly told to reinstall as an admin.  Both options have failed.  I'm at dead end.  Can you please provide me advanced assistance?

  • Ross_S's avatar
    Ross_S
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    9 years ago
    Thanks, I've reached out to you too dropinthebucket
  • dropinthebucket's avatar
    dropinthebucket
    Helpful | Level 6
    9 years ago
    Hi Ross -- Is there a direct message feature here so we can talk. Luke from advanced support reached out to me after you sent this and I haven't heard from him since. Desperately need assistance here.
  • directorscut's avatar
    directorscut
    Explorer | Level 4
    9 years ago

    I have a business account and i am working with MacBookPro having OSX 10.10.5 working. I did upload my data and then i got the message not enough storage because my sytem SSD has 250GB and my drive has 1TB. The Drobbox shows 60GB for its folder.

     

    So i cant work on with uploading. Each time i upload it will increase the local usage of storage on the SSD. I try to change it to my 1TB drive but it didnt work.

     

    But the goal is to save storage on my local Mac and not double all storage???

     

    Thanx for your help in time! I would love to continue working with my files on dropbox...

     

    Peter

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