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Mac seems to think HD is full of Dropbox files?

I'm using a Mac and have about 100Gb of DropBox folders, many are local on my HD as well (I have DropBox Plus 2Tb plan).

I went through and changed all files to online only (grey icon) and now my DropBox folder says I have maybe 1GB...but in the finder when I look at overall space on the computer it's still showing HD is almost full!

I have "Online only files on Mac" set to ON.

I don't understand how DropBox deletes files because I had so much data locally stored and when I changed to online only I never saw anything show up in the Trash on my Mac...so I don't know how the files are deleted from my computer?

How can I fix this so my computer doesn't think the HD is almost full?

Thanks,

Alan.

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Walter

Hey @alanS, sorry to jump in here, but I just wanted to mention that this space might be taken up by the cache folder that Dropbox creates on your computer.

If the desktop app has finished syncing and it's 'up to date' in your menu bar, you could try deleting it to free up some hard drive space.

Let me know if this helps, Alan.

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Nancy

Hi @alanS, thanks for posting about this on the Community.

As a first step, can you send me a few screenshots of what you see on your end?

More specifically, I’d like a screenshot of your hard drive’s space, one of the files within your local Dropbox folder and a last one of the storage taken up by your Dropbox folder (after right clicking on it and selecting “Get Info” from the dropdown menu).

Let me know when you’ve got more details!

alanS

Thanks Nancy,

Essentially I'm trying to make more space on my Mac HD...yesterday it said I had over 100Gb of DropBox files on my Mac (I'm a photographer so that would make sense as I deliver work to clients this way a lot). After I moved all the files (apart from a few) to online only, my Mac still shows no decrease in space being used...?

Here are some screenshots you asked for (showing Documents folder w 300gb but Finder shows it as only 900Mb etc).

Appreciate any help you can offer!

Alan.

Documents Space Used.png DropBox Folder.png DropBox Space used.png Hard Drive.png HD Space.png

Jay

Hi @alanS, it looks like Dropbox is correctly showing the size of the files on disk, being only 308.9 MB for the Dropbox folder, when the full folder would've been 9.48 GB. It seems the OS isn't displaying the correct sizeof the files in the system.

Could you check if the 'Online-only files on Mac' for Mac is enabled here?

Regarding the Documents folder, is it located in the Dropbox folder itself? The last image showing 'Documents' means literally any kind of document located on your machine, not just files in the Documents folder.

alanS

Jay,

Yes, I do have 'Online-only files on Mac' turned to ON (see first message).

You're correct about the issue...my Mac is not displaying the correct storage amount. A few days ago it said I have over 100Gb of DropBox files and only about 15Gb of free space. Now, two days after I've moved all my DropBox files online it's still showing only about 15Gb of available storage.....not possible if I've moved all the DropBox files to online only....why don't I see over 100Gb's of free space on the hard drive?

Thanks,

Alan.

Walter

Hey @alanS, sorry to jump in here, but I just wanted to mention that this space might be taken up by the cache folder that Dropbox creates on your computer.

If the desktop app has finished syncing and it's 'up to date' in your menu bar, you could try deleting it to free up some hard drive space.

Let me know if this helps, Alan.

alanS

Thanks for all the replies...in fact the confusion may have been on my end...I have a large Lightroom preview folder which is using a huge amount of space but I think the initial problem was not having the "Online only files on Mac" unchecked..giving me the impression that DropBox was using a lot more space than it was.

Thank you all!

Alan.

rproco

I seem to be having the same issue but can't really understand if I've been able to delete the cache. I transferred a large file from an external hd straight to dropbox that is online-only and my system data jumped filling all the space on my hd. I now can't even transfer any file from an external hd to dropbox as it say I need to free up space to do the transfer. I've used the shortcut SHIFT COMMAND (.)period for deleting cache which brought up a greyed out dropbox file but it wasn't labeled cache in any way. I deleted it anyway but didn't solve my problem. Any help would be appreciated as this makes my 2tb dropbox storage pretty useless if I can't even transfer files from and external hd. I did find somewhat of a workaround using dropbox.com and transferring that way but takes forever.

Hannah

Hey @rproco, thanks for posting here!

Just wanted to clarify that when you add a file to your Dropbox on a computer, the file will need space to do the initial sync, so even if you've set new files to sync as online-only, you will first need space to sync the file.

After syncing is finished, you can go ahead and switch it to online-only, to free up the space.

I hope this helps, but let me know if you have any questions.

rproco

Hi Hannah,

Thanks for your reply. Yes, this is what I assumed but my hd never frees up after the transfer has completed, even after setting to online-only. Also, to clarify, will the sync need to allocate space on the hd as the same size of the file? I am transferring files generally 70gb and up.

Megan

Hi @rproco, sorry to jump in here!

Can you clarify the app's current syncing status, please? Is it up to date?

As for the file size, if you change the file to online-only, then it would take up 0 hard drive space, if you don't it would take up the actual file size space.

rproco

Hi Megan,

Currently all files are synced or 'Up to Date'. My workaround for this issue has been going to dropbox.com and uploading files that way. It just takes much longer.

My question regarding file size space allocation is during the transfer, not when synced.

And of course still trying to figure out why my system data space won't free up after files are synced.

Thanks!

Walter

Hey @rproco, sorry to jump in here, but have you checked if your hard drive space is taken up by your cache folder perhaps?

rproco

Hi @Walter,

I have followed the instructions to delete dropbox cache (SHIFT, COMMAND, (.)PERIOD) which brought up a .ini file I believe. I deleted that with no success of clearing space. My overall cache folder in Library is only 7gb, nowhere near the 130+gb my system data is taking up.

Walter

Thanks for clarifying that for me @rproco - much appreciated.

Could you also send us a couple of screenshots of where you're spotting the discrepancy and confirm that your files are online only at the moment?

rproco

Hello,

Just wanted to update here on this issue. After speaking with Apple Support over the phone and in person at the genius bar there was no resolve and they recommended wiping my hard drive completely and starting from scratch. This was an effort I did not want to do as it would be a pain to download all the applications I had, etc. So I took a deep dive into the systems library folder and went through every folder that mentioned dropbox. I finally found a folder that contained roughly 90GB of files! I found this under Library>Group Containers>G7HH3F8CAK.com.getdropbox.dropbox.sync>root-mount>file_clones

Deleted the files and have gained back most of my system data space! Computer is finally breathing easy again!

jonpen69

Found this folder, but the data isn't inside it and I cannot find where the clones are. any more help from people who still have a problem would be nice

Walter

Hey @jonpen69 - could you let us know some additional information so that we can assist further?

For example, what is your computer's OS version and if you're running the Dropbox desktop app, what is its current status and version as shown in your menu bar?

Also, a screenshot of where you're spotting the discrepancy would also help, so feel free to include one.

jonpen69

I am On Mac OS10.15.7 I solved it. it was the Dropbox.cache folder which contained all the mirrors of uploaded files that were not cleared out of this folder after a successful upload.

jonpen69

So... I had to reveal the Dropbox.cache folder by pressing (SHIFT, COMMAND, (.)PERIOD) and delved inside the "old.files" folder. Why this wasn't being emptied after a successful sync is the question. And why it stored it there in the first place is a waste of space and time, I was transferring from an external drive directly to dropbox which begs the question, Why does it even get copied into the mac file system at all?

Walter

The Dropbox cache folder acts as a staging place for your sync tasks (uploads, downloads, backups etc.) and keeps the files for 3 days as a fail-safe as you'd be able to restore the files from there in case of an emergency.

This means that it's auto-cleared after 3 days of a successful sync and if you made sure that the app is 'up to date' and not still syncing, you're safe to clear it manually as you did.

In any case, I'm glad to hear you sorted this out in the end and thank you for keeping us in the loop too @jonpen69

fscorer

I'm having this exact issue. Same directory and everything. I paused syncing so the folder doesn't expand faster (it slows it down, then I just restart the computer for it to sort of reset)

I must ask, did deleting those file clones make your Dropbox files vanish? Currently backing up my things right now but if you didn't lose anything, I'd really like to delete those clones now 😂

Matteo918

After deleting the folder file_clones have you noticed issues with DB?
Is it sure to delete everything from this folder?

Specialforce

Hi @rproco -

I have a similar file - I just wanted to check that there were no adverse effects from deleting that file?

rproco

Hi @Specialforce

No adverse effects at all. Deleting those files was the solution that worked for me. All my Dropbox files were still stored in the cloud and I did not lose any data. Hope that helps!