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Forum Discussion
Problem with making a local backup of Dropbox folder (version 14.3.17)
I make periodic full backups of my Dropbox folder to an external hard drive. This is (or used to be) simply done by copying and pasting the folder to the external drive. That worked perfectedly until the latest release (14.3.17), but now the copy stops, and is reporting file access errors.
I tracked the failing files (24 of them) down to the .dropbox.cache folder. They are located inside a subfolder named 'qebcobkqbgpbzfynfuwbof', and are all called placeholder.*, where the * represents 24 different standard file extensions, like avi, doc, jpg etc etc.
Stopping Dropbox, deleting the offending subfolder and restarting Dropbox causes that subfolder to be recreated with 24 uncopyable files in it again.
The problem occurs on Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. I have found a very similar post in Spanish on another part of this forum (https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Buscar-respuestas/problema-con-files-in-cache/td-p/192449) and another in Russian on the Dr Web forum. Both mentioned exactly the same 'gobbldegook' subfolder name!
12 Replies
Alexis G.1 wrote:But you say in your initial Post the 24 files with issues are inside the Cache Folder. Files in this folder are normally hidden/protected OS files so It's ok if you cannot copy them. This is not relevant for your manual backups.
It's just my personal opinion. Please let me know if I miss-understand the problem.
The Dropbox folder is a standard visible 'user' folder with almost all of my important files stored inside it. I have no problem with Dropbox or any other software creating a hidden folder within that 'user' folder and storing information in that folder in order to be able to perform its function. That's normal and acceptable software practice in many operating systems, not just Windows.
What is unacceptable is to create files inside that hidden folder, or anywhere else for that matter, which prevent the visible user folder from behaving as a user folder should. All of the standard commands of the operating system should always be usable on all folders that the user can see, and that includes the top-level Dropbox folder.
Here's what happens when the copy/paste process hits a file in the hidden folder:
There's no indication where the failing file is stored. The message might be indicating a serious disk drive problem. It might scare a naive user. It gave me cause for concern, and I did run a disc scan and repair, which reported no errors. That made no difference. I did a bit of research and tracked down the cause. I posted here and this was the most recent reply from a 'Dropboxer':
Hi Robert, I think we've identified the issue and we're working on a fix. Will follow up on this thread when it's in a build you can try. Thank you for reporting!
So the official standpoint is that it's an issue that needs fixing. That's good enough for me! :grinning:
I had the same problem; it was with the AVI placeholder as well.
Disabling sync and then deleting the contents of the .dropbox.cache folder worked for me (except I moved it to the Desktop as a precaution rather than deleting it - so if deleting the contents doesn't work, ie due to permission or access errors, try moving it).
I'm on Windows 10 Enterprise Anniversary update
What I tried before this, in case this helps the devs fix the problem:
Deleted just the file it was reporting the error on - problem moved to a new placeholder file
Exiting dropbox, deleting the files, reopening
Doing this with synchronization still on
Rebooting
Reinstalled dropbox after setting my Windows account to be a true Administrator account
I'm moving from one partition to another on the same raid array, both are NTFS
