Need to see if your shared folder is taking up space on your dropbox 👨💻? Find out how to check here.
Forum Discussion
Solved
Trying to copy a folder from an external drive to Dropbox, but get error about the disk space.
Hi all,
I have just upgraded to Dropbox with 2 TB of storage. I am trying to copy a folder of 76.62 GB from an external hard drive to Dropbox which has 1.84 GB in it. I am getting the message: Not ...
There should be an option for this in the app's preferences under the Sync tab, Chris.
Can you give it a go and let me know if this helps?
Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
Dropbox Community ModeratorHey chrisryanphotog, can you check this out, to make sure that your external drive is supported?
Yes, this helps. My external hard drive is encrypted. I want to copy the externeal hard drive to Dropbox, reformat the drive then copy everything back. I am now copying all the folders on the drive to Dropbox by drag and drop but I get the message: Not enough disk space to copy... I have set my preferences to Online Only. Why is this taking up disk space on my computer?
Thanks
- Hannah
Hey Chris, I'm glad we figured out why you couldn't back up your external drive.
Now, as for the files taking up space, when you initially move/copy them to your external drive, they're set to available offline by default, in order to sync.
Once they're fully synced, that's when you can set them to online-only.
So, I'd suggest syncing the files in batches, switch each batch to online-only, then continue with the rest.
Problem solved. Thank you for your help.
- Megan
Hi all,
I'm still having trouble with Dropbox Backup Beta. I have an external hard drive that has been Updating 16 files since 2nd August. It's now 7th August. It says 201.49 GB of 204.84 GB backed up. 98% complete. It doesn't change. What could I be doing wrong?
- Nancy
Hey chrisryanphotog! Sorry to jump in.
Has your backup progressed at all over the course of the last few days, or has it been stuck at 98%?
Have you restarted your device at all since the backup started?
Hi Nancy,
I think all my files have backed up now. The info now says 206.18 GB of 206.75 GB backed up. 99% complete. Updating 16 files. If I hover the cursor over the Dropbox icon in the menu bar, I get "Dropbox 179.4.4985 Indexing 16 files... Can't update "Library". I think that refers to myMacBook Pro hard drive Library. What is indexing and why could this be taking so long? Yes, I have interrupted the backup process and restarted the computer over the last week.
Thanks
- Jay
Hi chrisryanphotog, do you have any other Library file that could be trying to sync in the drive?
There are two "Library" folders. Macintosh HD > Library and Macintosh HD > System > Library.
The external hard drive will not backup at all now. The last Backup updated 10/08/2023 at 8:42am. It is now 14/08/2023. It should update every 15 minutes. I click the Backup Now button and the progress wheel appears for two seconds then disappears but nothing happens.
- Hannah
Thanks for all the info, chrisryanphotog.
Can we actually send you an email, so we can investigate this further internally?
- Hannah
Do you mean that you're already in contact with our support team, chrisryanphotog?
If so, can you please give us the ticket number for the communication?
