Dropbox stuck synching Mac OS Catalina

[crett]

I've read all the other threads with recent synching problems, and I've tried pretty much all the recommendations. 

I'm on Mac Catalina 10.15.1. 

I'm using the latest stable release of Dropbox, 84.4.170

The problem I was previously having for the last couple of weeks is that my Dropbox would synch, but then it would constantly restart from the beginning and never complete. And while it was synching, the number of files would go up and down, never getting to zero. 

• I've unlinked and relinked my account several times.
• I've deleted the app from my computer (including finding and deleting all files related to Dropbox).
• I've done the stop under the Account tab to fix permissions.
• I've used Terminal to check for symbolic links (there were none).
• I've used Terminal to update permissions.
• I've gone to Security & Privacy -> Privacy to make sure Dropbox has Full Disk Access. 

I have around 127K files.

The synch is currently stuck at synching 13,507 files and has been for a couple of hours. If I pause synching and resume, the number will sometimes drop by 1 or 2, but then it gets stuck again. 

There are some files marked with a red x. These are normal files like PDFs, not symbolic links or files that are being used by some other program.  

The suggestion to use selective synch won't work for me, because the full, definitive set of files are on my computer, not on Dropbox. I need to complete the upload of files to Dropbox without wasting time writing over the files that are already uploaded. 

Are there any suggestions beyond what I've already tried? 

[wintherhome]

I have the same problem. My Mac (also on Catalina 10.15.1) has been busy syncing for more than a week, syncronising some 250.000 to 400.000 files (the figure goes up and down - but never below 250.000 files).

Hoping that the Mac will at some time have sync'ed all files, I have left the Mac running several nights - and in the morning the number of files have gone up or down, but not significantly, even though I have a high speed internet connection (some 180 kbps) and have not set any limitation on the bandwith to be used for sync'ing.

[JoergEss]

Even without Catalina i've got the same problem and the support can't help.

Has anyone tried the last beta? Is there a changelog?

[wintherhome]

Having had my Mac syncing for two days now, the number of files to sync has decreased from 286.300 to 268.200.

29 files are to be uploaded (same for the last two days!).

Of my 2 TB capacity, 1,8 TB is free. In other words, if I used just just half of the capacity, I pay for, it would take several years to sync.

HELLO - Dropbox support team, wake up! Your service is not working properly!

[Здравко]

Hello @crett & @wintherhome,

Did you have try fix possible permissions issue in Dropbox folder, like below? If somebody didn't yet, try following:

sudo chflags -R noschg "/Users/$USER/Dropbox"
sudo chown -R "$USER" "/Users/$USER/Dropbox"
chflags -R nouchg ~/Dropbox
chmod -R u+rw ~/Dropbox

Will be ask for your password (sudo). Note: where Dropbox directory is used as a command's argument (either "/Users/$USER/Dropbox" or "~/Dropbox") replace it with actual path on your machine, if need (I have used the default path & name for personal account). If you aren't sure about exact Dropbox directory place(s), take a look on the following command result:

cat ~/.dropbox/info.json; echo

Take a look on field "personal.path" and if it's a business subscription also on field "business.root_path".

Execute all commands in sequence in terminal. If some error brings up, stop there and post the terminal content in a code block (</>), together commands & results. Check for symbolic link(s) could be done using:

ls -alRP ~/Dropbox | grep " -> "

Again, take care for the real path. If everything is Ok, the result should be empty. If it's not, take care for pointed places.

If all above don't help in any way, next could be full Dropbox application uninstall and reinstall. First, unlink from your account and stop/quit the application. After that execute following commands:

rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Dropbox
rm -rf ~/Library/Dropbox
rm -rf ~/.dropbox
rm -rf /Applications/Dropbox.app
sudo chmod -R a+w /Library/DropboxHelperTools
sudo rm -rf /Library/DropboxHelperTools

Will be ask for your password (sudo). Again, if some error brings up, stop exactly there and post all terminal content for check up. Now everything is like Dropbox has never been installed (exception is your data - they are in safe). Download and install latest stable release again (preferably offline installer). Any unusual message (in terminal or in popup) could be meaningful, because MAC seems changes system security schemes, but Dropbox isn't on "top of the wave".

Hope this helps.

[crett]

Здравко,

Thanks for your response. Yes, I saw this information in another post, and I tried everything, step by step. It did change the behavior of my Dropbox app, but it didn't fix teh problem. Previously the app would sync for a long time and then restart, often going up and down in number. After I followed your steps, the app would just get stuck at a specific sync number and not progress. 

I will try it again and post the terminal screenshot after each step. I don't remember seeing any error messages in terminal last time, but I'll see what happens when I do it again. 

[Здравко]

Ohh... If has been some errors, you haven't done anything! Yes, Check again.

If there is some error, it's very important what exactly is (could be many different variations - I have seen, on some places, incorrectly set permissions from Dropbox installer).

[crett]

Здравко,

I did a full uninstall and reinstall of the Dropbox app. The problem remained the same. 

Then I followed the steps to fix permissions issues. There were no error messages.

I checked for symbolic links, and the result was empty.

Currently the app shows that it is "synching." The number keeps going up and down. It got as low as 3, then it stuck there until I paused and unpaused the synch, and then the number shot back up. It's now around 32K and increasing. 

I know your next suggestion is to uninstall and reinstall the app again. I've done this so many times, is this still the best next step? Any other suggestions? 

[Здравко]

Hi @crett,

I haven't other suggestions, more than mentioned above. Just one clarification: You said "I did a full uninstall", but didn't mention explicitly what command list you have used. The above one or other? Just to be sure everything is cleared and nothing old/outdated left. Also important is (as already mentioned) the application to be stopped before cleaning.

[crett · Accepted solution]

My problem is finally fixed. I downloaded the latest beta, 86.3.130. In Preferences, under the Account tab, when you hold down Alt/Option, there's now a Fix Hardlinks button in addition to the Fix Permissions button, which I've already used a few times. I clicked both buttons, and ultimately that seems to have fixed the problem.