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Incorrect dropbox space usage on windows

Incorrect dropbox space usage on windows

storion
Helpful | Level 5
Go to solution

Hi Guys,

 

My local Windows Dropbox is fully synced with my online Dropbox.  Windows Explorer file/properties shows my Dropbox folder is 576 MB but to my surprise, dropbox.com and dropbox app both say my dropbox is full. I have checked the plan tab and found my regular file size is 3.4 GB which is not correct. My shared folder only takes less than 100 MB. What is going on here? Why the discrepancy? Any inputs?

 

Thanks,

Tao

 

 

675 Replies 675

Rich
Super User II
Go to solution

@Mathias77 wrote:

It apparently started with some kind of fumble on my behalf: I plugged in an extern USB harddrive into my PC, abd I got some sort of message ...


You likely enabled the backup feature. Check your Backups page.

Mathias77
New member | Level 2
Go to solution

I just found it myself. Just luckily stumbled upon it. There's a Synchronization and Backups tab in the Dropbox dialogue that I can open with a right-click on the Dropbox icon. There is a list of current backups (or probably would be, if it was more than one), and clicking on an entry leads to the file list of the backup. Here I could simply delete all the mistakenly saved files - and everything is great again!

Just being so thorough for the case that it might help another with a similar problem.

Many thanks for the reply. It will help for the future. I figured out how to disable backups, and I will take a closer look into how to actually reach my backup page.

emaruffi
Explorer | Level 4
Go to solution

I have Dropbox Basic. I deleted every folder and file in my Dropbox, and Backup is not enabled.

I get on Preferences > Account on the macOS app: "83.0% of 16.9GB used". I get "Using 14.01GB of 16.88GB storage" on the Preferences on the web page.

What I checked:

  1. App says status is "Your files are up to date".
  2. www.dropbox.com/home shows no file is present there.
  3. My dropbox folder on the Mac is empty. Hidden files are just some small files. I also erased the cache folder there, but it was already small (~49MB). No change in space used.
  4. Backup page shows Size: 0 bytes / Number of files: 0.

Please help!

Emanuele

Hannah
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

Hey @emaruffi, I moved your post to this relevant thread.

 

Can you check Megan's suggestion here, to see if that helps?


Hannah
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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emaruffi
Explorer | Level 4
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Hello,

Last night, before trying "https://www.dropbox.com/backups/PC?" I looked again into my Backups web page. I tried searching for files starting with a dot and other simple searches and suddenly a file showed up. This gave me a hint that there was hidden material there. I eventually found out there was a hidden folder "Downloads", which I am sure was created when I inadvertently switched Backup on. a while ago I thought that switching Backup off and making sure the Backup page says "no files 0 bytes" was enough, but the folder was still there.

Anyway, I was able to "go up the path", starting from the file that showed up in the search, and reach the "Download" folder, which showed there was still a lot inside. As a note, going up one level from there went back to the Backup page with "No files / 0 bytes used".  In any case, from  the hidden "Downloads" I was able  to delete its content and now my space is showing the correct value (0% used). I suspect the hidden "Downloads" folder is still there though.

 

My advice for Dropbox engineers is to "show deeper" into the backup folder, to include hidden material, and maybe show in the UI that it is hidden but still occupying space. This is important with macOS where certain folders which might be backed up are now hidden by default when using iCloud (including the Desktop folder).

Thanks,

Emanuele

Hannah
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

Hey @Mika2, can we reach out to you via email, so we can have a closer look into this?


Hannah
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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gjhamel
New member | Level 2
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Why is dropbox saying I am out of space? I am not. Why are the folders in my dropbox empty? Why are the files listed as "waiting to sync"? Waiting for what? 

Mark
Super User II
Go to solution

Do you have Back ups set? 

 

www.dropbox.com/backups


 


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SecretAdmin
Explorer | Level 3
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Hi,

can someone help me. 

My diskspace is full, but i already deleted everything.

i had this issue 2 weeks ago, someone wrote that i have to delete the backups.

i did and it worked, but since today its full again.

i checked the backups again und deleted the data, but this time it was only a few mb and its still full.

Thanks for your help!

Walter
Dropbox Staff
Go to solution

Hi there @SecretAdmin, sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

 

Can you please let us know if you see any files or folders taking up space in your account's homepage or your backups page?

 

What exactly is reported in your account's plan tab in regards to your quota?

 

Let us know what you find and we'll take it from there.


Walter
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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