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Dropbox uses a ton of hard drive space despite most files being online only
So, I've put ALL my files on online-only because my Mac was running out of space.
In my Mac settings, Dropbox takes up 108 GB currently. Once I actually look at what folders are taking up space it's less than 2 GB (you can see in the screenshot what I mean).
What is taking up all this space?
Is it possible that the hidden Dropbox cache folder is taking up space on your machine?
Try deleting the folder using these steps to see if this helps.
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- Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey John1957, thanks for bringing this to our attention.
Is the Dropbox application running on your computer?
If so, what's the sync status and version, as seen when you hover over the Dropbox icon in your system tray?
Can you also check that the Dropbox system extension setting is enabled on this page?
Hi Hanna, thanks for the reply. and who is @onlyme989?
Dropbox 189.4.8427
Up to date.
I've been using Dropbox for years and have to be very careful as I have gigs and gigs of photographs. I'd like to put everything in Dropbox buy I'm wary it'll crash my C drive space.
I fixed my username š
Yes, it's enabled
I have both Dropbox and OneDrive installed and other than the OS and Program files, I am not aware of any space I'm using on my C drive, it's all in the two cloud storage systems, and yet, I only have 29.9 GB free on a 222 GB drive, makes no sense to me?
- Nancy
Hey John1957! Can you send me a screenshot of your files, as they appear within the local Dropbox folder? Iād like to check what syncing icons youāre seeing next to them.
Besides that, please right click on an online-only file/folder, go to "Properties", and send me a screenshot of the next window youāll get.
Pictures in Dropbox folder. As you'll they are all set to online only
Screenshot of properties...
- Nancy
Thanks for that! Now, regarding the first screenshot, it looks like youāre seeing the grey X icon, which isnāt generated by Dropbox, but by your OS instead. The icon that indicates that your files are online-only is a grey cloud icon instead (also mentioned in the link Iāve attached above).
Your second screenshot shows that your files currently take up 0 bytes from your hard drive, so it looks like theyāve already been set as online-only indeed, and the featureās working properly.
Are you seeing somewhere specific that there are files/folders within your Dropbox folder, taking up a lot of space from your hard drive?
