Hard drive is full, even though the files are online only.

[Fridtjof1]

I have made lots of files online only to free up space on my hard drive, but dropbox has stopped syncing claiming that there is not enough disk space.

The top level folder says that it has 5TB of content, but in the four folders it contains there is less than 100 gb.

 

 

I have restarted dropbox, restarted the computer, and waited for ages, but the problem persists... Please help.

[Nancy]

Thanks for posting about this on our forum, @Fridtjof1. Let’s have a look.

Can you send me a screenshot of your Dropbox app’s current syncing status? 

If you don’t mind, I'd also like a screenshot of your hard drive’s available space. 

Finally, what's the current location of the local Dropbox folder on your computer, and your Dropbox app's version?

Let me know when you've got more info.

[Fridtjof1]

Hi, Nancy.

This is on my work computer, and I'm not going back there until after christmas, so I can't send you a screenshot. 

Dropbox has about 11 gb left to sync, so it's almost finished.

Dropbox is located on an external 5tb hard drive, but even though the four folders in the dropbox folder is less than 100 gb in total, the drive says that it is full. It claims that there is 1 gb of remaining space. There is nothing else on the drive.

Hope this answers your questions, even though i couldn't provide the screenshots 😉

[Megan]

Hi @Fridtjof1, have you checked what is taking up space on your hard drive? 

Is it Dropbox-related context or not?

Also, if you access your general settings online, have you turned the Online-only files on Mac setting to "On"?

[Fridtjof1]

As you can see from the screenshots, it is the dropbox folder that is taking up 5tb, even though the content is under 100 gb... Very strange. 

I checked now, and the online-only files is set to "on".

[Walter]

Hey @Fridtjof1 - sorry to jump in here, but if you made sure that the app is 'up to date' and not still syncing in your menu bar, could you try clearing your cache folder and let us know if it helped improve matters for you?