Multiple Dropbox Folders Removal

[Garrett_High2001]

I have two Dropbox folders after a messed up move process with one synced, and one not, but I cannot remove the unsynced one without possibly deleting the cloud storage as well.

For the move process, I accessed the preferences menu through the desktop taskbar icon on Windows to get to the sync page. From there I clicked “move” under the Dropbox folder location, and when the location box showed up, I chose the Local Disk (D:) drive so it would move the Dropbox location directly into the (D:) drive without being under any other folders. After confirming the location, a long loading bar popped up and finished moving over the contents. Later, I realized that the Dropbox folder was moved to the (D:) drive, but the old location in C:\Users\<username> was also still there with it still being synced to the cloud.

The new (D:) location did not have the cloud sync icons, and all of its contents had the X icon indicating they are not synced. When looking at the properties of the (D:) location, it showed there was 11GB stored on the disk and 2.5TB stored on the cloud. The (C:) location had significantly less stored on the disk, as it was synced to the cloud.

I manually moved the (D:) location into a sub-folder on the (D:) drive so I could redo the process of moving the (C:) location like I was originally trying to do, as it wouldn’t work with the (D:) location already being present. When I looked back at the sync page in preferences, it showed the install location was still in the C:\Users\<username>\ spot with the original folder, not the (D:) location even after I already moved through this exact window. With the first (D:) location in the sub-folder, I was able to successfully move the (C:) location as intended, and the (C:) location was removed after being moved to the (D:) drive. This new location synced with the cloud and is working properly now with the (C:) location removed, but the older (D:) location that is not synced is still present in the sub-folder.

When I try to delete the old folder, it shows it is deleting hundreds of GB of files, like it is deleting from the cloud as well as locally, so I canceled before it could finish. Despite not being synced like the main location and still having the X’s on all of the files, it deletes from the cloud when it is deleted locally. I do not know how this secondary location got messed up in the move process despite showing no errors or how to remove it without damaging my cloud storage as well. If anyone has an idea for how to remove this, it would be appreciated, thanks.

[Megan]

Hey @Garrett_High2001, let's get right into this! 

Can you let me know what the app's syncing status is while we speak?

Also, you mentioned you manually moved the (D:) location into a sub-folder. Did you drag and drop it in the subfolder? 

In which of the two folders, do you see the Dropbox syncing icons?

Let me know more, and we'll take it from there!

[Garrett_High2001]

Hi Megan, the app’s syncing status is up to date and the original messed up (D:) location was dragged and dropped into the sub-folder.

The Dropbox syncing icons are present in the new (D:) location directly in the drive, and there are no syncing icons present in the older (D:) location in the sub-folder. Before I dragged and dropped the old location into the sub-folder, there were also no syncing icons present, so that didn’t change with that action. Also, to clarify after looking at an article about the sync icons, the synced icon is the gray cloud, which is Online-only, and the not synced icon is the gray X for me. For the older (D:) location that is not synced, the folder itself has no symbols at all, but the individual files inside of the folder each have the gray X’s. Thanks for the response!

[Megan]

Hey @Garrett_High2001, could you send me a couple of screenshots too? 

Also, if you delete any content from the old (D:) location, does that reflect on the website too, despite the icons being present? 

[Garrett_High2001]

These first two screenshots are of the Dropbox folders’ locations in file explorer.

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In the next three screenshots, I made a text file named “test1” in the New Dropbox folder and another file named “test2” in the Old Dropbox folder. When looking at Dropbox on the website, the test1 file from the New Dropbox folder synced in the same spot online, but the test2 file did not. Additionally, test2 is not visible in the New Dropbox folder in file explorer and vice versa.

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Another thing I found out when testing is that the files in the Old Dropbox folder are corrupted. I took a screenshot of the same file when opened in each folder, and the Old Dropbox shows it is corrupted and all of the files have a gray X, and the New Dropbox opens the file without a problem and the files are synced with their symbols.

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To test the deletion request, I deleted a PNG file named “Layer 2” in the Old Dropbox folder, and no changes were made to the file on file explorer or on the online website.

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Lastly, I am including a screenshot of the sync status for dropbox, the folder properties for the New and Old Dropboxes, and what is displayed when I try to delete the whole Old Dropbox folder. Despite saying that it only takes up 11.2GB on the disc, it shows it is discovering the entire Dropbox (over 4TB) when trying to delete. I am thinking that it might have stored every single file on there locally, but because they are all corrupted they only take up 11.2GB instead of 4.57TB since the files have no real data. If that is the case though, it is still confusing as to why it shows it discovers 4TB still when deleting since only 11.2GB is actually present.

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[Megan · Accepted solution]

Hey Garrett, amazing job on the screenshots, you're a pro! 

After checking everything, it seems that the app is working precisely how it should. The new Dropbox folder has all the syncing icons, and syncs the changes back and forth to the web.

The exact opposite happens to the "bad Dropbox" on the old path. Now, it's also important to note, that 4TB is a lot of storage.

I would suggest keeping your device open, and embracing yourself with some patience and the deletion should eventually take place. Have you given it lots of time to delete everything? 

Do you get any errors? 

[Garrett_High2001]

Thanks Megan, figured I’d rather have too much info than not enough for the response. We have had a problem in the past in my group where someone accidentally deleted the entire Dropbox folder thinking it was just their local one and the entire thing had to be restored, so we were a little hesitant to just delete the entire thing without troubleshooting first. I think we will do a backup of the bad Dropbox folder onto our network storage drives just in case something goes wrong, but I think it is fine to be deleted now after all of the testing. The last time I tried deleting I let it run the whole time and canceled it in the end once it asked me to permanently delete it because it was too big to recycle. No errors showed up, so it should be fine, and I just canceled because I hadn’t backed it up at that point yet. I’ll do a backup and try to delete the folder and get back to you.

[Megan]

Sure, @Garrett_High2001. 

Take as much as you need, and if you need anything else you know where to find me. 

[Garrett_High2001]

After backing up everything, I deleted the bad Dropbox folder and gave it a day to see if anything went wrong, but it all went smoothly and nothing online was deleted. Now that we just have the synced folder that is up to date and working as intended, I think everything is back to normal now. Thanks for all of the help and troubleshooting @Megan!

[Megan]

Happy Monday, Garrett! 

I am glad to hear everything is working as intended. Thanks for updating me too!

If you need anything else, don't hesitate to give me a shout. 😊