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Re: Smart Sync Online Only Files still using disc space

Smart Sync Online Only Files still using disc space

nsbcmedia
Explorer | Level 4
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I am using smart sync on multiple Macs, one running macos 10.12.6 and the other running macos 10.14, they both are showing my hard disks are almost full even though the majority of the files are set to online only. When I choose Get Info I show a size of 687GB (38 GB on disk) for 60,699 items. So though it should only be 38GB on disk my OS's are reading it as 687GB on disk. I've tried reinstalling and since its happening on two different machines with two different versions of OS, one with APFS and one without, it appears to be a dropbox issue and not a machine issue. A quick glance at the forums shows that this has been a common occurance. Any suggestions?

 

 

22 Replies 22

Sebhue18
New member | Level 2
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I'm experiencing the same problem with my business account and it is affecting every member of my team. Each uses selective sync and each shows that their hard drives are full when you look at "About this Mac." 

Has anyone found a workaround? After reading through this thread, it looks like the Dropbox team has not proposed solutions, but perhaps I've missed some key piece of data. 

 


Thanks!

Jay
Dropbox Staff
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Hi @Sebhue18, if you’re only using selective sync, and not Smart Sync, could you check that the folders unchecked in the window are not present on the machine?
 
When unchecking a folder, it should delete them from the machine, but sometimes it doesn’t, so you’ll need to delete them yourself. 
 
These folders can be identified with a grey minus symbol on them, like so:
 
  
Prior to deleting them, make sure that the users haven’t been updating files in those folders, since they aren’t synced to the site, and will be deleted.

Jay
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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Sebhue18
New member | Level 2
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@jay

We're using SmartSync, not SelectiveSync. 

Jay
Dropbox Staff
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Okay, was just checking because your forum post specifically mentioned selective sync, which is a different feature.
 
If you’re using Smart Sync, and the ‘Get info’ page is showing the ‘size on disk’ to be minimal, then it is working as expected, and the Mac simply cannot process the difference in the size of the files.
 
I’d recommend contacting Apple for further support on how to get the OS to recognize the correct size as it appears on the disk itself.

Jay
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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Cadam
Helpful | Level 5
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HI there. I am having the same issue. All my dropbox files are Online Only but dropbox gave me a warning today that my hardrive is full - and so it is! Using Smart Sync and MacOS 10.13.6. Help!

 

All smart sync online onlyAll smart sync online onlysays documents is 1.34 TB on my hard drive. NOt sure how that can really be as I only have a 500GB storage harddrivesays documents is 1.34 TB on my hard drive. NOt sure how that can really be as I only have a 500GB storage harddrive

ridgeway
Explorer | Level 4
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Having same issue across windows and various versions of macOS. I'm the admin for our business account which is near the 3TB limit... and smart sync worked, while oddly in beta. Now it's not syncing properly on my account even when setting to online only and letting it reindex (which is a pain itself). Files will be completely missing on another device that should be syncing. 

Further, the Dropbox admin panel won't even load the 'recently deleted' files button. I am losing a little faith in the reliability of this - previously awesome as it's cross platform - team file collab suite. I mean we literally just ditched the on-prem file server which was a pain in itself... and here I am with all these sync issues. I tried supprt and reverting to non-beta; no luck, and now I'm back on beta hoping that the fix gets pushed there first (no other team members on beta that I know about).

I mean what's goin on here it's a mess:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sxhjs9lcveb85o6/Screen%20Shot%202018-11-27%20at%202.21.39%20PM.png?dl=0 

and

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sxhjs9lcveb85o6/Screen%20Shot%202018-11-27%20at%202.21.39%20PM.png?dl=0 

 

Been progressively getting worse the past 2 months, there needs to be a resolution to this - I currently refer Dropbox business to businesses instead of on-prem servers but I'm getting wary. 

Thanks in advance. 

Jay
Dropbox Staff
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Have you contacted Apple already about the OS not being able to recognize the correct file sizes? Regarding the deleted files page, could you try switching browsers to see if this helps? Otherwise, use incognito/private browsing mode without any extensions running, clearing your cache and even resetting your browser entirely. Let me know how it goes!

Jay
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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ridgeway
Explorer | Level 4
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If you're speaking to me, I have reached out, instructed me they couldn't help since I previously activated beta features - and to completely reinstall (wiped full reinstall as I've tried all of the above) on every device. Yes, I opted in for beta so I understand but opting back out and it being retroactive is kind of lame. Just hope this gets resolved soon. When I sync a new device I try to minimize even online-only files via selective sync, but even then it's happening just like the screencaps (very similar look on Windows 10 Pro latest build, and another macOS Sierra - not just Mojave). I do have nearly 125,000,000 files as it warns before doing selective sync (that anything greater than 500,000 will 'take a very long time to sync'). 

I did recently do a test on a fresh Windows 10 build which is very fast/brand new system designed for heavy CAD based workloads, and it took almost 24 hours just to index taking up quite a bit of resources given it was built to handle high IO and CPU usage - and that's also with a fiber connection and no other hardware bottlenecks that I'd be aware of aka 1Tb 970 M.2 with 16 core processor, more than enough RAM, etc. I'm going to start taking more detailed logs because I think it may be something to do with individual file/folder permissions as I've gotten some errors moving/deleting files regarding permissions (locally, not Dropbox - again I'm the main admin on our team).

Thanks in advance!

Jay
Dropbox Staff
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Are you referring to beta features on a Mac, like for a new version of Mojave? If so, this could also be a factor since the OS isn’t currently a fully tested or supported environment for the Dropbox desktop application.
 
Regardless, you have that many files, then it can take a bit of time for time for the files to index and sync down to your device, and the performance decreases as it needs to keep tabs on all those potential syncing files.
 
Let me know what you find out with the other issues you think could be the cause.

Jay
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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ridgeway
Explorer | Level 4
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no, not mojave beta, jjust some of the business beta features (like smart sync, when it worked!). Among others like additional email which is cruical for me as I run the dropbox for technically 2 cascading companies / domains.

Need more support?