Smart Sync Online Only Files still using disc space

On the Smart Sync page, it states the following:

“On APFS, the operating system takes snapshots of the file system and available hard drive space. These snapshots may not update after you've used Smart Sync to set Dropbox files as online only. This means that hard drive space you freed up with Smart Sync may not be immediately reflected or available if this snapshot hasn't updated.

“This hard drive space should eventually be freed up by the OS, but the amount of time this will take can vary. This isn't a behavior specific to Dropbox, but instead the designed behavior of macOS.”

If Apple didn’t suggest this possibility to you, then I’m not sure what else I can say.

Users have reported these issues in the past, however the problems went away, presumably because the snapshots of the hard drive changed, which are essentially Time Machine snapshots.

This issue occurred even on older versions of macOS, and yet the issues stopped after some time.

I can only recommend checking with Apple again, given this information.

All comments

Hi there, as the ‘Get Info’ page confirms that Smart Sync is working as it should, you’ll need to contact Apple to see if they can correct this for you, as the Mac OS is itself reporting the incorrect amount, not Dropbox.

Same thing is happening to me.

I know the temptation is to pass the buck, but I don't think it's a Mac issue, or at least I'd like Dropbox to take this issue seriously. If it is indeed a mac issue, Dropbox should at least be able to provide a reason and a workaround since certainly many of your users use a Mac and this service is entirely based on this very thing working properly (file sizes reflected correctly). Seems that it is happening to other people as well, according to other threads I've read. In my case, the main Dropbox folder shows the full disk amount even though many files are marked as in the cloud.

Here's one folder that is marked as entirely in the cloud:

So, where is that 73 GB that should be free space on my hard drive and why does the main Dropbox folder think it's full size?

nsbcmedia

I actually started with Apple support after reading the responses to other posts on here. Their response, which I tend to agree with, is that if its happening on mulitple machines running mulitple versions of OSX then it would be a Dropbox issue and not an Apple OS issue. I have tried some reinstalls and rebuilt the spotlight indexes and the issue remained.

I also tried emptying cache as suggested by a Dropbox web page. No change. It's been this way for several weeks.

On the Smart Sync page, it states the following:

If Apple didn’t suggest this possibility to you, then I’m not sure what else I can say.

Users have reported these issues in the past, however the problems went away, presumably because the snapshots of the hard drive changed, which are essentially Time Machine snapshots.

This issue occurred even on older versions of macOS, and yet the issues stopped after some time.

I can only recommend checking with Apple again, given this information.

nsbcmedia

But I as I stated originally I am also having the same issue with a different mac running OS 10.12.6 which does not use APFS but instead still runs in OS Extended (Journaled). While that might explain the issue on my newer laptop running 10.14 it does not explain the issue on my mac pro running Sierra.

This issue has been there since my first use of this feature (it has never worked). That means that it has been incorrect for several months (at least since July). Please help me figure out WHY it's happening (even if it is eventually on Apple's side, which is definitely debatable), because we know what will happen: Apple will pass the buck right back and we'd be right where we started. Perhaps someone at Dropbox should have a talk with Apple to determine what is happening? Thank you.

Note also that my disc measurement tool (WhatSize) sees the same problem. It thinks the files are there at full size. I know, it's probably getting the information from the system, but still it's a point of information that may be useful. Thanks.

harjisingh

Yup, seeing the same issue on my end. Its a bit frustrating since we use alot of memory heavy programs. How can this be fixed?

Sebhue18

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!

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.

Sebhue18

@jay

We're using SmartSync, not SelectiveSync.

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.

Cadam

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!

Screen Shot 2018-11-15 at 6.36.27 PM.png All 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 harddrive

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

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:

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

Okay, I was under the impression you reached out to Apple directly since I referred to them in my reply.

Keep me posted with any updates.