Smart Sync enabled and all support suggestions undertaken but still filling hard drive

[timdodd]

MacBook Pro (17-inch, Late 2011)

macOS Sierra v10.13.6

Sophos Endpoint Advanced v9.7.6

FileVault status: On

I have a Dropbox account on a Business plan, linked to a Personal account (on a small paid-for plan). Both accounts link correctly and the files will sync with my Mac.

I have Smart Sync configured on the business account (for which I am an admin) because we are currently using 4,000+Gb of storage as a business.

My Smart Sync settings are applied and working in the Dropbox desktop app. The option is naturally set to online (not local) by default. I have a refresh OS installation on my Mac (NOT restored via Time Machine backup).

However, the Smart Sync functionality seems to be completely ignored and my hard drive is being filled up with Gb's of files.

I have trawled through the support pages on here and applied the checks and methods outline by previous posts - including turning off application which need to read the Dropbox files (namely Sophos).

I have managed to turn off Sophos in System Preference > Extensions so I am now able to see the Dropbox icons against files and folders. But these are all showing the blue sync icon (even though when the file has synced).

I have uninstalled the Dropbox desktop app. I have tried unlinking the accounts.

Prior to wiping my hard drive and running the fresh OS installation this week, the Smart Sync functionality was working correctly on the same Mac. The applications installed in the fresh installation mirror those (by version) to the set up prior to this.

At present, Smart Sync appears to be completely un-usable.

[Walter]

Sorry to hear that Tim - have you tried an advanced reinstall to see if this will fix your issue? I would suggest that you give our offline installer a go during that process ( the advanced reinstall) too as this would make sure the installation goes through properly. 

Let me know how this goes please @timdodd! 

[timdodd]

No joy with this approach Walter.

I encountered the problem following the wiping of the HD, the fresh install of the OS and the latest version of Dropbox being downloaded and installed. So I'm not surprised this hasn't made a difference.

I currently have a mixture of folders showing me the online-only icon and the rest are showing the syncing icon. The files have built up to >80Gb already. So this hasn't worked.

What else can I try to correct this issue?

[Walter · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the update Tim - I appreciate it.

So you performed an advanced reinstall and this still didn't fix your problem? 

Could you please let me know what our app states at the moment? Also, would you mind sharing a screenshot so I can see the message it reads? 

Thank you in advance @timdodd and bear in mind that if this persists, I'll need to reach out to you via email to work on this internally with all of my tools available. (alternatively you could log a ticket with our support team and let me know the ticket ID so I can jump on it)

Cheers!

[timdodd]

Correct. I undertook the advanced install and followed the process provided (remove all traces of previous settings and configurations using the terminal commands).

I will log onto my machine and retrieve the requested screenshots.

No support ticket created just yet. Feel free to reach out directly via email.

[Walter]

Thanks for letting me know about this Tim ( @timdodd)!

I have just reached out to you via email so we can have a more in-depth look into this together. Check your inbox for my email and we'll take it from there.

Thanks! 

[stupidjan]

How did you solve this? Same here.

[timdodd]

We didn’t. Smart Sync remains an issue so we’ve either fallen back to using Selective Sync or just rely on the web-based view of Dropbox. Way too much time was invested in trying to make it work correctly but hard drives were getting filled up on numerous machines as the app failed to work properly.

[stupidjan]

Thanks for the fast reply! Sorry to hear. For me it was just securitysettings that blocked dropbox. So I could solve this on my own. Hope you'll find a way in the future.