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Storage Usage reported for online-only folders on Finder doesn't match the "User Info".
So after more than a year of discussion on pretty much the same topic, this still has not been resolved. Sugesting that issue will be resolved in the next version of software is somewhat unacceptable, and if you try to imagine this in any other profesion, you will agree, it would not be tolerated. We just designed a house for you and although it says its 200m2 it is acctually 150m2. But don't worry we can build another one for you and it will now be 200m2.
When storage gets limited on computer, there is something starting to happen with all computers, that cause them to overheat. I am no computer genious, but many will agree this is just what acctually happens. So basically I had 500gb SSD and becouse of this issue I am acctually using only about 100gb, becouse the rest is taken by files I do not have on my computer but rather on Dropbox online, yet still it makes the rest of my disc unusable. So not only this feature is completely useless, might as well have files on my computer in the first place, it also damages my computer.
I had similar issue with Box before, now Dropbox... amazing.
According to Dropbox team Jane, if the info about the dropbox folder is close or equal to zero bytes, it means it doesn't take any physical space on the hard disc. The problem I guess that the operating system still sees it as if it is taking that physical space and acts accordingly, i.e., full disc or neat full. I don't know what is the way around that.
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Thanks for the replies and splitting of threads.
Now that you've investigated that Finder reports sizes incorrectly, what are next steps? Do we live with this forever?
Surely the point of Smart Sync is to allow us to save space. And in order to save space, we need to conveniently know how much space is being taken up. Having to individually "Get Info" on files/folders defeats this process.
Can we (as in dropbox) get in touch with Apple and get something about this behaviour updated?
- Jane
Dropbox Staff
Email re feature request would be great. [personal info removed by Jane]
And I think you're still missing the point of my posts. Perhaps feature request is the best place.
But if this is a Mac OS problem, I'd rather Dropbox put pressure on Apple than kept going back and forth with me.
FYI here's that same folder's info.
24GB total, but 9GB local. Again - that's cool. But useless for sorting/finding which folders to make online/mixed...it takes faaaaar too long to have to individually query each folder. Making smart sync a "nice to have but not very useful" feature...I'm almost ready to downgrade back to Selective Sync which is much more transparent.
The "du" command I'm familiar with...and it doesn't SORT, so again, du -d 1 will give me a 100 entries (the number of entries in my dropbox root folder) to parse [this being the next closest thing to what I need].
Alternatively, dropbox could introduce a browser that shows "physical usage" based on the UNIX command du, and we'd not have this problem. However at the moment, because of how dropbox presents its online-only files to the kernel/OS, no browser we know of is useful for determining physical usage.
- Jane
Jane,
You are asking for a lot of information from users, and your "solutions" are not solutions, just more questions. This behavior is disappointing and should be fixed. Only a true solution should be marked as such. Nothing here so far has been "Solved."
Doesn't Dropbox have a development team that can run MacOSX 10.13.4 and replicate this issue themselves (The answer is yes). Please ask them to figure it out. And please stop this madness of "Solved" replies when no solutions yet exists.
Many thanks,
Mike
Jane,
I've read through all of these posts, and still have not found a solution. Will you please refrain from marking your post as a "Solution" when you only ask more questions? It is very confusing to newcomers, and is also just misleading. As far as I can tell nothing here has been "solved."
Let me ask you this, doesn't Dropbox have a development team that can run MacOSX 10.13.4 and replicate this issue themselves? The answer is yes, and I think it would be a better use of time for them to replicate it rather than continually asking users to post more information and marking your further questions as "Solutions."
Many thanks,
Mike
- Jane
Hi Jane,
I have to say I also find myself frustrated reading these comments, and other threads about this issue. I think it's very clear for everyone the difference between physical vs logical size. The point I and many others are trying to get at is that Dropbox is breaking the default, and expected behaviour of the operative system. The du command may be useful for single folders. However, Disk Utility and System Information report the nominal size of Dropbox files (online and offline) under Documents in High Sierra (10.13.4), which gives a very skewed overview of actual disk usage. The size column in Finder is more or less useless too. Clearing the Dropbox cache doesn't fix this issue, and so far there has not been a single real solution to this problem.
- Jane
Hi,
Any further news? It has been 2 weeks since last communication by Jane.
I have 95G in my Dropbox and I just installed Dropbox on a new iMac (10.13.5) and the "About This Mac" Storage tab shows that I am using 95G of storage on my harddrive for document inspite that all foders and files in Dropbox are marke "online only" with Smart Sync and display the cloud icon.
Also I have dropbox on my Macbook Pro and the cloud or green tick icon are not showing in the dropbox folder.
Thank you in advance.
Regards.... Edwin
