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Had to reformat hard drive and reload new MacOS and data, now I have 2 Dropboxs on my hard drive
I am a Dropbox Plus user running a MacBook Pro, with Sonoma 14.5
Last Sunday, 06/09/24, I experienced problems with my MacBook. Working with Apple Support, they tried to reload a new copy of the OS, but it didn't resolve the issue. Since I had a recent Time Machine backup, their advice was to reformat my hard drive, reload a new OS Sonoma and use the Time Machine backup to reload my data. During this process, I must have renamed by hard drive with a new name. Got a message from Dropbox that I didn't fully understand, answered it and proceeded with the install of my data.
- When my system was back up and running, I noticed that Dropbox has moved from the bottom of my Finder Sidebar View to the top,
- I started to work with some files yesterday and noticed that there was only a copy of the file on Dropbox. I had been keeping a local copy also, since I work many times without being connected to the Internet. I decided to mark all the folders that I wanted to work with at that time as "Make Available Offline".
- I still need to research how to set Dropbox to keep files in both places
- When I started to compare some files, I found that I had 2 copies of Dropbox installed on my system, which I assume happened when I was doing the re-install. They are located in the following locations:
- UserName/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox (6-9-24 6/02pm)/file folder name/file
- UserName/Dropbox/file folder name/file
- I know these duplicate locations came from my re-install, but I truly don't understand how to fix this mess.
- How do I tell which is the file location that Dropbox is currently connected to? I have been accessing Dropbox from its new location at the top of my Finder Side View window.
- Once I know that, can I just delete the one that a duplicate?
Dropbox is very important in the way I use it, but when it breaks, I have a difficult time understanding how to resolve my issue.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated !!
John
11 Replies
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- Jay
Dropbox Staff
Hi jdmstl23, thanks for bringing this to our attention.
For Mac OS, there are two method for Dropbox to sync files, one using the old method, and the newer File Provider. The locations you're describing refer to both of them.
In order to determine which one is active, can you see any sync icons in those folders? You can also see the Dropbox folder from within the Dropbox desktop application preference using these steps.
Keep me posted!
Hi Jay:
Thanks for getting back with me. As for my Dropbox desktop version, I think it is v201.4.5552 and I am at Sonoma 14.5 on my Mac. I found this version of Dropbox under Preferences/General. It was at the bottom of the screen on the right. Under Notifications, I say that Dropbox on MacOS on File Provider is now ready. I have not clicked on the "Get Started" option on that dropdown screen.
As far as the status of the 2 Dropbox locations on my MacBook:
Mac HD/Users/[removed]/Dropbox -- This one appears to being updated with Dropbox, there are sync icons showing. It is the one that I manually turned on having files online and offline. I have also made some minor file name changes... these appear both in the online and offline copies
Mac HD/Users/[removed]/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox (6-9-24 6/02PM) -- There are NO icons showing. Also the minor file name changes I made are not in this copy of Dropbox.
So let me know what my next steps should be. I am anxious to get back to normal, since I depend on Dropbox to help be track research that we have done.
Again, thanks for the help !!
John
