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

[Dave H.]

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

[Wassim J.]

I have a 2015 MacBook Pro Retina 13 inch. I have been seeing very high temperatures. So Apple advised me to fresh install Yosemite and then start adding 3rd party software one at a time to test what is causing the high temperatures. First thing I installed was Dropbox and immediately, I am getting >100% CPU usage and temperatures shooting up to 95C!! I have about 30,000 files on Dropbox. Just downloading them should not be so stressful on the CPU!

[Yashodhan B.]

I have a 2015 macbook air (much lower spec machine than many of the people in this forum) but I have the exact same problem. downloading 3 files that were all text files, and the CPU usage is > 110%. battery life plummets as a consequence.

This is terrible because if I don't have my charger on me and have accidentally left dropbox running the night before, I'm in huge trouble. Doesn't look like anyone is getting much support from the Dropbox staff.

[David S.293]

My issue has seems to be resolved for now - was running CPU 100%+
MacBook Pro 10.10.3 i7,2.5 16GB
10.10.5 and 3.8.4

CPU runs  6% - 10% now with syncing
There was one short spike to 100% when syncing started and then it calmed down.

[Mustafa J.]

Dear David, but how it was solved? may you please give details. I am still facing this problem since joined Dropbox.

[David S.293]

Mustafa,

Not sure what that I did anything to resolve the issue
Just gone away now that I am on newer version of Dropbox 3.8.4 and OS X 10.10.5
Sorry I can't be more helpful

[Somen S.]

It is amazing that a company that always talks about "ease of use" and "convenience" has built and sitting on such a badly coded app. High and mighty dropbox - FIX this high cpu usage issue or you WILL lose a lot of paying clients including myself. I am sure you have a "VOICE OF CONSUMER" analytics running somewhere - pay attention.

FYI: I am on a MBP 15" 4 core i7 and 16gb with 1TB SSD

dropbox version 3.8.8 (the latest joke?)

[Roberto r.15]

Also have the same problem.

MBP 13 retina 8GB RAM

Can't believe this happens all time I need a larger sync.

[Marshall J.]

Same issue again on another brand new 15" MBP running yosemite and selectively syncing only 3 directories... 

Broke a new record with 144.4 % CPU

[Mark B.87]

I keep installing the latest version of Dropbox on my 2011 13" Macbook Air (4GB RAM), hoping that Dropbox will fix the problem. In my case, Dropbox will be idle (i.e. not synching) and still use nearly 100% of CPU resources. When it is synching, it's much higher! The end result is that my fan is always on - until I simply quit Dropbox. But that defeats the point of the product, now doesn't it ... 🙂

Has anyone on this thread found a solution or better alternative? 

[John H.7]

Google Drive? - works like DropBox but uses very little CPU. Unlike DropBox, changing a folder name is almost instantly synced and doesn't require a load of re-syncing of the contents. I use Google Drive for real time syncing documents and files and Dropbox just for iPhone photo backup when required, maybe iCloud could do that for you though?

According to tonight's BBC Panorama it seems all UK internet traffic has to go through GCHQ surveillance first - maybe that is slowing down Dropbox.