Duplicate Camera Upload photos after transfered to SD.

[IanWood]

I am using Sony Compact 5 phone. When I take photos they are uploaded to Dropbox automatically 

Yesterday my phone said it was running low on internal storage and suggested I transfer them to the SD card. After they were transferred the photos were uploaded again. 

This has resulted in many duplicate photos, which typically have a '-1' in the name. Also the md5sums of the files are different so I can't use a utility to delete them easily. 

I can easily replicate by taking a photo, it being uploaded, then transfer photos to the SD and see that the same photo is uploaded again. 

How do I stop Dropbox uploading files from the SD card when photos are transferred there? 

Thanks,

Ian

[Vicky]

Hi there,

Can you please submit a ticket to Dropbox.com/support? Also, please feel free to include some specific examples so we can investigate this further

[jpmeijers]

I have this same issue on my Sony Xperia Z3 compact. Quite irritating as Dropbox is already killing my ADSL when I come home. Now it tries to re-upload all my photos again.

[stripysocks]

Just chipping in to say that I have the exact same problem on my Sony Xperia Z2 android phone on Android 6.0.1 build number 23.5.A.1.291

It didn't do this prior to a few months ago as I used to do this quite often.

[david-simons]

Please resolve this - before the summer 2017 this was NOT an issue - only recently occured. Thanks

Also after firmware upgrade, all photos re-upped.

Sony Xperia XZs G8231 - Android 7.1.1

Update: Might have to do with the fact that the Sony will start renumbering from DSC_0001.JPG after transfer, and next time will copy to SD card as DSC_0001_1.JPG, which triggers a re-upload.

Solutions: Upload based on hash rather than filename, or allow certain directories (like SD-card) to be EXCLUDED from Dropbox camera upload. Thanks!

[Heerst]

This problem is occuring for me as well, on Sony Xperia X Compact. It is uploading 800+ files which I just moved to the SD card...

Only workaround so far is to let it finish re-uploading all photos, then delete all the duplicates from the desktop folder, which have filenames ending in -1.jpg

[Jane · Accepted solution]

Hey Heerst, I’d happily check that in more depth with you! 

So as to examine a specific example, I’ve made sure to create a Support Request on our system on your behalf. Whenever you find some time, please check your inbox for my email & I’ll make sure to promptly follow-up with you asap. 

Thanks again & I’m looking forward to hearing back from you via email! 

[david-simons]

I found the following solution/work-around:

The problem seems to be caused by the Sony phone starting to renumber photos (say at DSC0001.jpg) on the internal storage, when they have all me moved to the SD card.

So next time you transfer internal photos to SD card, there will be a duplicate DSC0001.jpg on the SD card, leading to say a DSC0001(1).jpg file. The latter is considered a new photo by dropbox, and will be re-uploaded (using the same metadata)

Workaround is to never transfer _all_ of your photos to SD, but to keep at least the latest photo on internal storage (say DSC2345.jpg), so the camera app keeps numbering correctly and the above duplicate filename conflict is avoided.

Cheers!

[Jane]

Hey there (@david-simons), I appreciate the time you’ve devoted to drop us a line on our Forum  with this advice to your fellow Community members.  

Please feel free to ping us back here for your feedback or questions; our Community Wall is always open David. Happy syncing & take care until we talk again!