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Mac seems to think HD is full of DropBox files?
I'm using a Mac and have about 100Gb of DropBox folders, many are local on my HD as well (I have DropBox Plus 2Tb plan).
I went through and changed all files to online only (grey icon) and now my D...
Hey alanS, sorry to jump in here, but I just wanted to mention that this space might be taken up by the cache folder that Dropbox creates on your computer.
If the desktop app has finished syncing and it's 'up to date' in your menu bar, you could try deleting it to free up some hard drive space.
Let me know if this helps, Alan.
Walter
Dropbox Community Moderator
Dropbox Community ModeratorThanks for clarifying that for me rproco - much appreciated.
Could you also send us a couple of screenshots of where you're spotting the discrepancy and confirm that your files are online only at the moment?
Hello,
Just wanted to update here on this issue. After speaking with Apple Support over the phone and in person at the genius bar there was no resolve and they recommended wiping my hard drive completely and starting from scratch. This was an effort I did not want to do as it would be a pain to download all the applications I had, etc. So I took a deep dive into the systems library folder and went through every folder that mentioned dropbox. I finally found a folder that contained roughly 90GB of files! I found this under Library>Group Containers>G7HH3F8CAK.com.getdropbox.dropbox.sync>root-mount>file_clones
Deleted the files and have gained back most of my system data space! Computer is finally breathing easy again!
Found this folder, but the data isn't inside it and I cannot find where the clones are. any more help from people who still have a problem would be nice
- Walter
Hey jonpen69 - could you let us know some additional information so that we can assist further?
For example, what is your computer's OS version and if you're running the Dropbox desktop app, what is its current status and version as shown in your menu bar?
Also, a screenshot of where you're spotting the discrepancy would also help, so feel free to include one.
I am On Mac OS10.15.7 I solved it. it was the Dropbox.cache folder which contained all the mirrors of uploaded files that were not cleared out of this folder after a successful upload.
So... I had to reveal the Dropbox.cache folder by pressing (SHIFT, COMMAND, (.)PERIOD) and delved inside the "old.files" folder. Why this wasn't being emptied after a successful sync is the question. And why it stored it there in the first place is a waste of space and time, I was transferring from an external drive directly to dropbox which begs the question, Why does it even get copied into the mac file system at all?
- Walter
The Dropbox cache folder acts as a staging place for your sync tasks (uploads, downloads, backups etc.) and keeps the files for 3 days as a fail-safe as you'd be able to restore the files from there in case of an emergency.
This means that it's auto-cleared after 3 days of a successful sync and if you made sure that the app is 'up to date' and not still syncing, you're safe to clear it manually as you did.
In any case, I'm glad to hear you sorted this out in the end and thank you for keeping us in the loop too jonpen69
I'm having this exact issue. Same directory and everything. I paused syncing so the folder doesn't expand faster (it slows it down, then I just restart the computer for it to sort of reset)
I must ask, did deleting those file clones make your Dropbox files vanish? Currently backing up my things right now but if you didn't lose anything, I'd really like to delete those clones now 😂
After deleting the folder file_clones have you noticed issues with DB?
Is it sure to delete everything from this folder?Hi rproco -
I have a similar file - I just wanted to check that there were no adverse effects from deleting that file?
Hi Specialforce
No adverse effects at all. Deleting those files was the solution that worked for me. All my Dropbox files were still stored in the cloud and I did not lose any data. Hope that helps!
