Forum Discussion

aerocampro's avatar
aerocampro
New member | Level 2
2 years ago

Local hard drive size does not change after moving 160Gb folders online only

Macbook Pro 16" M4 Max 64Gb/4Tb, Mac OS Sequoia 15.1

I have made 160Gb total size folders online only to free up disk space, Dropbox sync shows "your files are up to date", folder sizes have instantly gone down to zero or close to zero on Mac finder but total disk space has not changed a bit.

Any idea?

I must say I've had quite many syncing problems with the Dropbox lately and am a bit concerned about its reliability.

 

desktop
Mac
Storage space

12 Replies

Show More
  • aerocampro's avatar
    aerocampro
    New member | Level 2
    2 years ago

    Hello,

    thank you for feedback.

    I actually was wondering about these files... what happens if you delete them? Does it simply reset syncing? Can you lose data?

    Thanks!

  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    2 years ago
    aerocampro wrote:

    Any idea?

    Dropbox has hidden local caches that it uses to ensure data integrity and security. So the files have been moved in to that location for a few days to ensure that everything is safe AND to allow quick restores if you'd done it by accident. 

    The drive space will be reclaimed shortly. 

About Storage Space

Looking for help with managing the storage space in your Dropbox account? Talk to the Dropbox Community and get advice from members.

The Dropbox Community team is active from Monday to Friday. We try to respond to you as soon as we can, usually within 2 hours.

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X, Facebook or Instagram.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!