Dropbox Beta failing to update storage

[Chris C.118]

Dear Brains,

I have had a Dropbox Full Message for a while and on examination have Selective Sync Issues, Folders I have not touched for a while have bred like rabbits and have upo to 10 Selective Sync Conflicts. I cannot open any images either via Dropbox, on my webpage or on my external drive that houses my Dropbox Folder. I found one rogue folder that was causing most of the sync issues and have spent the day consolidating and deleting the duplicates. I think I am about 90% of the way there. However this has solved nothing. Dropbox is still registering as full. If I try and open an image (The files are all JPEGs, Tiffs, and PSDs). I get various error messages depending on whether I am trying to open a file from my own ghard drive, via my webpage or just from the App. TYhese vary from not having permission, needing to upload to Dropbox first. The attached screengrab shows the Folder on the app. Most of the shown folders do not exist anymore. I have tried to tell Dropbox not to Sync any folders at all but as I have over run my 2Tb Quota it seems to have tipped Dropbox over the edge and everything is failing to update and I now have no access to my own work.

Any clues as to how to resolve this?

Thanks

Chris

 

[Jay]

Hi @Chris C.118, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

If your account is getting selective sync conflicts, this means that the folder in question has been deselected from syncing to your machine via the desktop app, however, for some reason, the same folder name is being created constantly. If you're not doing it manually, most likely an app or service which is looking for that folder, either to access or save files to, is recreating it automatically. 

I'd recommend quitting all open apps are services, apart from the Dropbox app, and then delete the conflicts. This would in turn free up the space on your account (since the conflicted folders could contain files and then take up space), and then they shouldn't be recreated.

Once those deletions have synced to the site, gradually restart the open services, until the conflicts are generated again, meaning you know which app is causing the issue.

Keep me updated with any progress!

[Chris C.118]

Hi Jay,

Thanks for your help. I managed to get throiugh to the chatline (I was unaware there was one). My Dropbox folder was on an external drive Drobo but if I did not turn it on with my computer then this seemed to cause issues.

 It seems then Dopbox added another Dropbox folder Admin>Library>Cloud Storage(?) I am not on my desktop just now but I think that is where the folder is. This folder is where the multiple conflicted files are appearing. I don't really want Dropbox stoing anything on my main hard drive as it eats space so would like to keep it on the external drive buit again I may be misunderstanding how the Dropbox storage works, ie if it is in the cloud then it is not taking up drive space at all.

Anyway I took out a tiral with more space have manged to upload all the files from Drobo now and will try and delete the selective sync files. Just need to see if it is best to drag these from the dropbox folder on my Mac or do it within the Dropbox web page.

I thought I used to understand Dropbox but not anymore! 😉

[Jay]

If the Dropbox folder has moved to the CloudStorage location, then it will no longer be possible to move the Dropbox folder as it is no longer supported by Mac OS.

This means that the files will be moving from the external drive onto your local drive since this change.

[Chris C.118]

Ok Thanks Jay, forgive my ignorance but does that mean I should drag all the files from my external Drobo Drive to the Cloud Storage Folder in my Library.

I have just gone through Dropbox web page and deleted all the Sync Conflict files (which were as far as I could tell all empty). I suppose I'd like to have all my images back on my hard drive somewhere as well for my own piece of mind and not just in the cloud.

I also notice my laptop is running on Ventura but my older desktop works on Monterey.

Thanks,

Chris

[Hannah]

Hey @Chris C.118, sorry to jump in here.

If your Dropbox application was updated to the Dropbox for macOS version, the move of the files to the new Dropbox folder location, should be automatic.

Are you seeing something different?