Desktop app is stuck 'Starting' when it loads up and doesn't sync

[Bert M.]

I am a paying customer and very frustrated with Dropbox. I am ready to drop DropBox and look for other alternatives.

Since Friday of last week it has been trying to sync 100Gb in files and it is taking an eternity. Now is stuck in "Starting."
I have rebooted the Mac (10.6.8). I am using Dropbox 3.0.3. I have tried going to Preferences, holding the option key and "Fixing Permission." I also read in the Internet about deleting the hidden cache folder but I have not done it yet since I don't know what to expect.

Any assistance is appreciated.

[Walter]

Hey @Jim B.45,

Sorry to hear about this - let's see into this together!

First of, are you running the latest stable version of our desktop application (47.4.74)? If not,  you can find it here. 

Another quick question to help with this: are you having the Dropbox Folder on your main HDD - meaning the one where your operating system resides as well? 

Note that your user account must have permission to write to the desired location and that the drive must be in the correct format to avoid such errors. You can see more about this here!

As per your last query,  it is indeed true that the performance of the desktop app might decline should you have more than 300,000 files. This is a soft limit and depends highly on the hardware specifications of the computer running the Dropbox application. You can always try to improve the performance of individual computers, by using selective sync to select only certain files to sync to that specific computer. In any case, you'll still be able to access all of your files from dropbox.com or other devices linked to your account.

Note: This limit is related to the number of files, not to their size. Generally speaking, Dropbox accounts with a large number of files may take longer to sync but a delay in syncing or a prolonged sync is not necessarily a sign of a problem.  Usually, adjusting your bandwidth settings may increase your sync speed.

I hope this helps and please let us know what you find so we can get to the bottom of what is going on here. 

[Paul A.25]

I too have Dropbox stuck on "Starting" in Kubuntu 14.04. But what's worse is that my machine (HP Pavilion) soon gets wedged altogether -- so wedged that I can't even start a virtual console with Alt-Ctl-F2. That might or might not have anything to do with Dropbox, but it seems to happen only during Dropbox startup. I've installed Dropbox on other laptops, and although it sometimes takes a few minutes to start and a day or to to finish syncing, this seems much worse.

[Jim B.45]

"let's see into this together!"

Cut the patronizing crap. I've been writing software for over 50 years and can "see into this" just fine.

"As per your last query"

Which you didn't read. Again:

"Dropbox has said for years that performance "declines" if you have more than 300,000 files ... they have never explained why and have never fixed this. Properly designed sync clients don't have this limitation. Dropbox's "solution" is selective sync, which is no solution at all. And selective sync deletes the local files (but not all of them!). There's no way to move the files elsewhere, turn on selective sync, then move them back and sync ... Dropbox insists on reloading everything. Properly designed sync systems don't work like that."

So don't go telling me yet again to use "selective sync", which is just another way of saying "don't sync all your files". I want to sync all my files. Properly designed sync systems don't have these problems. People have been complaining about this "soft limit" for years, but Dropbox has never explained why it has so much trouble with large numbers of files. And don't go explaining  "This limit is related to the number of files, not to their size" as if I were some imbecile. The problem isn't with me, it's with Dropbox.

"what is going on here"

I told you what is going on here ... the client is buggy crap. It should not fall to pieces when there are lots of files, and it should never sit there for hours with a tooltip that says "6,000 KB/sec, 17 sec left" with no data being transferred.

After several restarts and a relink, Dropbox finally decided to start transferring my files, but I have no faith in it continuing to function, and will be switching to another sync service.

---

@Walter

[Paul A.25]

It seems to have gottrrn unstuck, although the transfer is going painfully slowly (maybe 100 files an hour).  And that's to my primary HDD.

[Sanchez]

Hey @Paul A.25, 

I hope it works out for you, but if this persists, go ahead and write in to our team so we can take a closer look. 

Have a great week ahead! 

[Paul A.25]

Dropbox has gotten unstuck, but it's restoring my local Dropbox image very slowly -- at a rate of about 8 kilobytes/sec.  This is likely due to a bad interaction between my particular laptop and Dropbox.  I've also had lockups during the attempted restoration that forced me to reboot.  On the other hand, I've installed Dropbox on several other machines, and although it often took a full day of computation to finish, it always ran smoothly.

At the moment I'm letting the restoration proceed without anything else going on.  Once it's completed I'll be able to investigate any other difficulties withouth having to contend with Dropbox restoring files in the background.

[Walter]

You can speed this process up by changing your bandwidth settings if you like @Paul A.25!

Remember that Dropbox doesn't use all of your bandwidth normally.  Nevertheless, you can change that by manually setting the upload/download speed following the steps outlined here. 

Just keep in mind that setting your Upload to Don't Limit or a higher number than your connection is capable of could possibly cause all other Internet activity on your network to slow significantly. 

Cheers!

[Paul A.25]

I'm running Dropbox under Kubuntu 14.04.  I too am stuck on Starting, but with a nasty extra twist.  As Dropbox runs, the resident memory it's using (I monitor it with top) gradually increases.  At the moment it's up to 4.7GB.  Eventually the system processes are starved for memory and the machine locks up.  The trouble is that this happens before the sync has been able to get past Starting.

[Walter]

Thanks for the additional info Paul - much appreciated. 

Since I'd really like to help with this, I ran an internal search and found your support ticket. I have consulted with the agent handling your case and sent you some additional information on your specific case via email. Check your inbox at your earliest convenience and let us know how this goes.

Thanks!

[lallen]

Trying to install drop box on some work machines for a project, but eachand everyone become stuck on "starting" with a black dialog box, ten machines in total. I found the soultion was to simply crash the software on PC. Go into taks manager and End the setup dropbox task. Dropbox starts syning and works. 

Clearly a bug in the installer. 10 fresh installs with the same behaviour.