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How to speed up downloading speed?

Hello!

I'd like to download a considerable amount of data from my Dropbox account and the max speed I can get 1500 kB/s. Seems like it's been limited somehow. I have Dropbox Plus.

What I've tried so far:

Different ISPs (internet service providers)
VPN
Set unlimited bandwidth in my Dropbox settings

Anything else that comes in your mind?

It's just really frustrating that I have to wait 3+ days to sync my data when I have 100 Mbit/s internet speed.

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Comments

Mark

It will speed up naturally as you give it time. Thats because as it starts off it does all the folder structure creation and small files first - this has huge overheads due to the fact it has checks everthing.

However, once it gets to larger files it does them in 4mb chunks and does not have the overheads of individual hash checks - just once the file is done.

vasasda

Unfortunately it didn't speed up after 1.5 days.

The folder structure already created

Mostly I'm downloading pictures with less than 4 mb size, so the 4 mb chunks can be a problem in this case. Can this value overriden somehow?

Mark

No, sadly as that is how the files are stored in the cloud so its an infastructre restriction not a device one.

vasasda

So storing big amount of pictures in Dropbox is not really wise idea. In this case I should cancel my subscription? I can't afford to wait days to get my files every time I need them.

Rich

@vasasda wrote:
... the max speed I can get 1500 kB/s. Seems like it's been limited somehow.

While most ISPs and speed test sites display their results in bits (kilo or mega), the speeds reported by Dropbox are in Bytes. Be sure to do the conversion before comparing. Your 1500KB/s transfer speed is approximately 12Mb/s.

Also, each file that you upload is hashed and compressed, then transferred, encrypted, and stored on the Dropbox servers. That entire process is included in the aggregate KB/s speed that's displayed in the Dropbox sync status. In other words, it's not just a transfer speed and can't be directly compared to the upload and download speeds provided by your ISP.

vasasda

Let me specify myself a bit more.

In dropbox my speed is 1500 KB/s which is 12 Mbit/s

My internet speed is 100 Mbit/s up and down, which is 12500 KB/s.

In this case Dropbox ~1/10 of my internet speed....

I don't see this acceptable in 2020, most of the people have much faster internet than 12 Mbit/s and we are talking about Terrabytes of data...I let you to calculate how much time do you need to upload/download that much data with those speed.

Rich

@vasasda wrote:
I don't see this acceptable in 2020, most of the people have much faster internet than 12 Mbit/s ..

And if we were talking about straight uploads with no other process happening to your files during that time, I'd agree with you, but that's not the case. A lot happens beyond a simple file transfer when syncing files.

vasasda

So let's say the conclusion is that my CPU/HDD is the bottleneck? Do you have any recommendation what CPU is needed for using Dropbox file sync for a decent speed?