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Online-Only Not Working?
Hi all, We're trying to move all files from a 2TB local networked hard drive to Dropbox. My first question is - Am I right in thinking that when I paste a file or folder into the local Dropbox fold...
Hi
I'm experiencing exactly the same problem. Migrating to a Macbook Pro with limited memory.
- All my backedup Lightroom Catalogs and files (not images)
- are set to Online Only
- are not being used or accessed by Lightroom CC Classic
- as while I have installed Lightroom I am not yet using any of the old Catalogs
Dropbox is still syncing about 80k of files, and I upgraded tio Professional to access the SmartSync functionality part way through the migration. Slightly different to the OP's situation, however could this be holding up the change from Local to Online Only?
Not sure if this adds to the clues:
Uploading on two Macs, everything set to 'Online-only', why is one of the Macs saying 'downloading files'? If I've set everything to 'Online-only', surely they should stay online?
Also two days after uploading completed Monday, those files are still taking up space on my Mac. I can see they've taken up space on Dropbox (23% from the screenshot above) so why haven't they been removed from my local Dropbox folder yet?
I've ran out of ideas with this one. Both Macs are now full, both have already uploaded a few hundred GB of data, but this data hasn't been removed locally. The data isn't being accessed from anywhere yet as we're still using our local network until this upload is complete.
EDIT: I can confirm 3 hours later what little disk space I did have left has continued to drop, so it's downloading files despite everything being 'Online-only'.
- Walter
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey there KeyBlue and farmeron - sorry about your issues with Smart Sync.
Now, kindly note that syncing your files can take time if you have many files or large files. Just because the files have been placed into the Dropbox folder doesn't mean the syncing has completed.
When Dropbox syncs the files it starts with all of the folders, then uploads files from smallest to largest. Thus, it may look like the folders are empty or incomplete if you look during the syncing process. Please be patient and the files will sync. Do not delete them from the Dropbox folder if the files haven't finished syncing.
You can always see the sync status by holding your mouse over the Dropbox icon. See here: https://www.dropbox.com/help/syncing-uploads/check-progress
If the syncing is slow, try changing your bandwidth settings.
farmeron : If you're still facing this issue, please send me a screenshot showing your desktop app's exact status.
Thanks again fellas.
Thank you for confirming.
This has indeed now finished uploading, four days later...
We plan on using Dropbox to store all our files and work on everything using Dropbox as our main storage source with everything set to 'Online-only'.
Since it's taken so long just to upload these files, can we expect this sort of speed day to day when working on them? While I understand there are restrictions in terms of upload speeds etc, this could throw a spanner in the works in terms of our working processes.
- Walter
Glad to hear that and thanks for the update KeyBlue!
Now, in regards to your concern, note that syncing your files can take time if you have many or large files. Just because the files have been placed into the Dropbox folder doesn't mean the syncing has completed. You need to be patient and let the files sync -exactly as you did!
SpoilerWhen Dropbox syncs the files it starts with all of the folders, then uploads files from smallest to largest. Thus, it may look like the folders are empty or incomplete if you look during the syncing process. Please be patient and the files will sync. Do not delete them from the Dropbox folder if the files haven't finished syncing.Moreover, kindly note that the Dropbox servers do not set caps on the upload or download speeds from the Desktop client, but file sync is a complicated process that includes more than just the transfer of the data as each file is divided and compressed into hashed components, transferred via secure data transfer, and then encrypted and stored on our servers. During an upload, the transfer speeds are also dependent upon how quickly your computer can process and compress the components of the files to make them available for upload.
The Dropbox client will also batch upload smaller files into batches of 800 files. If you have 800 * 1 kB files the effective batch that's sent to Dropbox will be 800 kB in size. You may commonly see this behavior when Dropbox first starts syncing as the client starts with smallest files first and then progresses to larger files.
Thus, the initial sync of your data is going to be the most time and resource intensive period. However, the more you use Dropbox the more efficient syncing becomes:
- Once you upload a file to Dropbox, you never need to upload it again.
- When editing large files, the Dropbox app attempts to sync only the blocks of the file that have changed.
SpoilerYou can also check your connection speed through your ISP and local network by using the following link: http://www.speedtest.net/Bear in mind that the actual sync speed you see may not match these speeds directly as we are including the hash, compression, and encryption process in our aggregate kB/s speed (that is kiloBYTEs not kilobits per second).
I hope this information clarifies matters further and I remain at your disposal should you have any more questions!
