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Re: (OS X) Dropbox consuming a lot of CPU whenever any file or folder is changed anywhere

(OS X) Dropbox consuming a lot of CPU whenever any file or folder is changed anywhere

Dave H.
New member | Level 2

On my OS X 10.9.5 system I'm seeing Dropbox consume CPU whenever anything on the file system changes, regardless of whether the changed files or folders are in the Dropbox synced folders. The CPU usage is proportionate to the rate of file system changes.

When I'm running an installer that takes a long time and has high disk activity (e.g. installing a documenation update in XCode), then the Dropbox CPU usage goes through the roof and I see the Dropbox sync status change from 'up to date' to 'indexing'. For less sustained activities with less intensive file system changes, I see Dropbox just popup briefly in the list of top CPU consumers -- but it shouldn't be showing up at all (or certainly not at double digit CPU use and not for the duration of the file system activity.

My guess is that Dropbox is simply listening for file system events and reacting to each one as if it might be change in a synced file or folder. It should be ignoring fsevents that are for items outside the Dropbox folders -- but it seems not to be the case. 😞 😞

I'm on 3.0.3, but have been seeing this problem since the 2.* days.

--
Dave Hein

63 Replies 63

jpjd
Helpful | Level 6

Same here and they have had over a year to fix it. Issue is still present on my new MacBook Pro.

jpjd
Helpful | Level 6

My New Macbook Pro's fans are so loud when Dropbox is syncing and my CPU is bouncing between 100% and 150%. The minute I pause the syncing process everything goes back to normal. Fans drop and CPU goes back to normal! This is nuts. I don't have anywhere near 30,000 files. Dropbox are you fixing this issue or will I be forced to cancel my pro account and warn my friends about this isseue! Google Drive is sounding very tempting right now.

 

 

stevenzimmerman
Explorer | Level 4

This is a concerning thread.  Just switched from PC to mac and I have never seen the CPU run so high before.   Ditto to previous thread... google drive is looking more appealing than my dropbox pro account if this issue cannot be resolved.

sidan5
New member | Level 2
I have same issue. Using latest MacBook Pro (Touch Bar) and latest OS-X.
This is crazy because Dropbox just takes all the battery. First I though it's the new MacBook Pro battery but now I guess it's Dropbox issue.

I must say Dropbox is IDLE when taking all the CPU and I don't have too many files.

This adding up to the warning that Dropbox doesn't work well with Sierra and I could loose files. I guess I need to cancel my paid plan and move to another provider if this doesn't get solved ASAP.

Ventus
New member | Level 2
Same issue here. I was thinking to adopt pro version but instead I'm thinking to work with an another platform probably Google.

what
New member | Level 2
It's been 2.5 years and still issues the CPU. I don't use Dropox anymore and they still didn't do anything about it. Don't waste your time people, come to Google Drive, works fine. You wasted 2.5 years on this, don't have anything to do other than fix other company's problematic software? Dropbox clearly doesn't listen to Mac people, it's all about Windows 10 back in the game.

Kevin B.36
Helpful | Level 7

This is a long running (and should be embarrasing) problem for Dropbox. Their tech support staff have no idea how to solve it, that's why they either try and then give up or simply just don't try in the first place. I have no sym links, I'm not sure how many files, but it's about 25Gb of the 1 Tb I pay, ie. bugger all really.

 

I started with an i7 Windows laptop and do not recall seeing the exceptionally high CPU usage, but that was a long time ago. Moved to an i5 based 2012 Macbook Pro and the CPU usage is pegged at 105%. I thought it might just have been a down market machine, i5 with 8Gb RAM and 1 Tb SSD. To do anything I would constantly have to switch off Dropbox Syncing. So have just bought a refurbished mid-2015 15" Retina 16Gb RAM Macbook Pro (don't get me started on the utterly underwhelming, mid-2016, stupid taskbar, fantastically overpriced, for no real advantage, latest MBP offering, that's an entirely different discussion).

 

On startup:

  1. Fans running very fast
  2. Noise level something I just did not expect
  3. Heat at base of machine didn't seem too bad
  4. Looked at CPU usage and, once again, Dropbox is at 105%

Downloaded intel's Power Gadgert and Macs Fan Control.

 

Intels Power Gadgets shows a constant Temp of around 95-100 deg C

Macs Fan Control shows all 4 CPU Cores between 85-102 deg C

 

I set the temp sensor to be CPU proximity and memory proximity where the temps are in the 70's (I think this is a beter representation). Intel is obviously getting the temperature from CPU Core 1 (or may be averaging all cores, they do not say).

 

I stop Dropbox syncing, all 4 cores immediately drop to between 45-58 deg C and the CPU proximity to 45 deg C with the memory proximity the same. I startup syncing again and up the CPU usage and core temps go again. This is really not acceptable, but I've been a Dropbox user for years and a paid subscriber for 5 years. That also includes everyone I collaborate with and share folders (the big problem). So downing tools and switching to Google or iCloud or whatever would not work. 

 

So look Mr Dropbox, pull your fu#$%^&ing fingers out of your collective ar$%^&*holes and find a solution. Even throttling CPU usage to say 50% maximum would be a workaround, but at least DO SOMEHING. This has been an issue for years now not days, weeks or months. 

Nathan & Shelle
Helpful | Level 7

I recently got a bigger SSD on my MacBook Pro wanting to be able to finally have my whole 400GB Dropbox local, but this is proving impossible.  The Dropbox process is randomly grinding my laptop to a halt with the fan spinning up full tilt.  I've been zipping folders of older stuff to try to reduce the file count (somewhere around 130K files).  This sucks.

 

Additionally it took about five days over my gigabit home network to do LAN Sync.  That makes no sense.  The whole time it said something like "2 Hours Remaining".  Again, with the CPU going 100-150% with the Dropbox process the entire time.

 

I love Dropbox, but it's really not scaling properly at "pro" level.

Jane
Dropbox Staff

Hey Nathan & Shelle

 

Thanks for reaching out on the Dropbox Community! Let's follow some steps together to improve syncing. 

 

As a first step, could you have a look at this article and see if any of the cases mentioned there applies to you? The best course of action would be to make sure that you've installed the latest stable version of the Dropbox desktop application on your device. If you aren't sure about whether you have used Symlinks, please have a look at the steps here: 

 

#1. Open your Terminal app (Located at /Applications/Utilities/Terminal). You can also search for "Terminal" using the magnifying glass at the top of your screen.

 

#2. Copy and paste the following line into the Terminal: 

 

(NOTE: If your Dropbox account is located on  "/Users/JaneA/Dropbox", then fill in the command line as below)

 

find "/Users/JaneA/Dropbox" -type l -exec ls -lah {} \;

 

The above should give you a list of symlinks in your Dropbox folder and where they point to. 

 

Hope this helps you resolve this issue! 

 

Kind regards, 
JaneA

 


Jane
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support

 

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Nathan & Shelle
Helpful | Level 7

I think this may have helped some.  I have no links inside my Dropbox, but I followed the directions to update all the file ownerships and chmod settings.  It indexed for probably 2-3 days (140K files), but Dropbox finally settled down after that...

Need more support?