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CloudStorage Folder on Mac - Duplicate Dropbox Folders

I have recently updated Dropbox to the latest version (v172.4.7555) whereby the location of my Dropbox folder has moved to the 'CloudStorage' folder within Library on Mac OS (Ventura 13.3.1).

For some reason there are now two Dropbox folders within the CloudStorage folder. One of the folders has the blue dropbox icon and is just named 'Dropbox', and the other looks like a normal system folder and has been named 'Dropbox (20-4-2023 10/03 pm)'. See screenshot below.

The latter of the two (the normal system folder) appears to be a copy of the Dropbox folder with same contents as at the time of the update/migration to the CloudStorage folder. They are no longer exactly the same due to changes since the migration. Dropbox appears to be working fine and is syncing from the first folder with the blue icon.

Perhaps the copy folder was created as a backup during the migration I am not sure? I would like to delete this second duplicate folder as it takes up a lot of storage space, however want to make sure my files won't be affected. It would also be good to know I haven't lost any files during the migration.

One issue that makes me nervous is that the Music app on my MacBook Pro is linked to and playing files from the second duplicate Dropbox folder, not the Dropbox folder with the blue icon. These same music files are in the blue Dropbox folder and it should be linking to them, not the duplicate folder. This makes me worry what else might be linking to the duplicate folder that would be affected if I delete it.

If anyone can provide info on why this duplicate folder was created, can confirm I can delete it safely, and can also confirm how I can check I didn't lose any files during the migration, it would be much appreciated.

Many thanks.

Screenshot 2023-04-24 at 1.10.03 pm.png

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Walter

Hey @ab303, sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

Can you please confirm if you've made sure that the desktop app is 'up to date' in your menu bar and not still syncing and that you've rebooted your computer since you first noticed this as well?

Thanks!

PS: For more information about the expected changes with the new desktop app for Mac OS, you can take a look here.

ab303

Hey Walter,

Thanks for your message.

Confirming yes to both of you questions. It's no longer syncing, and the Dropbox app is up to date - v173.4.6706

I suspect that when I updated the Dropbox app and it moved the location of the master DB folder to the new location in CloudStorage, perhaps the update was interrupted midway through? Then perhaps when the update resumed, it started again and automatically created a new (i.e. 2nd) Dropbox folder in the CloudStorage but left the original folder that was interrupted in place. Do you think that could be right?

I ended up moving the 2nd Dropbox folder from my CloudStorage folder to an external drive to see what happened. Nothing did happen, so I suspect it was just a duplicate. It looks like all my files are safe in DB, however I have so many files in DB, and having OCD tendancies it makes me nervous that perhaps a few files could be missing that I don't know about, so I am reluctant to delete the duplicate on my external drive.

As an aside, 2 of my folders don't have the green tick despite being fully synced. See photo attached (folder names blanked out). This new dropbox location seems to be behaving a bit weirdly in general.

Keen for any thoughts you may have, thanks so much.

Screenshot 2023-05-17 at 9.02.15 am.png

Jay

Hi @ab303, regarding the folders without green ticks, have you tried marking the folders as available offline to ensure that files were downloaded fully?

jobo49

I have exactly the same problem. Some files are going to the "real" Dropbox, and some to the CloudStorage folder. A mess!

Megan

Hi @jobo49, welcome to our Community!

Can you please check the exact sync status and version of the app for me? You can hover over the Dropbox icon in your menu bar with your mouse to see this info.

If you have any relevant screenshots, of the files as they appear on both of these paths, I'd appreciate that too.

Keep me posted!

TimReid

Yeah same thing here, this update as caused so much chaos to my workflow. I keep getting scratch disk errors because there's no space, but I don't want to delete this incase I loose data.

Screenshot 2023-07-18 at 11.26.59 AM.png

Hannah

Sorry to hear about this, @TimReid.

Has the migration finished on your computer?

If you hover over the Dropbox icon in your menu bar, what's the sync status and version of the app?

And what's your computer's OS version?

TimReid

Hey Hannah,

Sync status is 'your files are up to date' on both of my two computers. I removed all other linked devices. Both computers are on the latest Mac OS (Ventura 13.4.1)

Do you think I'm free to delete the older copy?

Thanks,

Nancy

Hi Tim! Hope it’s OK to jump in.

If you open the old Dropbox folder that you see, what’s located inside it? Does it have the exact same files as the other folder?

TimReid

Hey Nancy, for sure, that's fine.

So having a quick comparison, the older one seems to have a lot less in the root folder, even though it takes up more space— but I think that's to do with me having to do 'online only' to free up some space. The newer one also resembles the Dropbox folder on my other computer, so I'm 99% certain that's the right one, I just don't know if things got stuck in the transfer.

I should also mention that I found this problem using Omni Disk Sweeper, which told me I'm using 918GB out of a possible 500GB... so that's interesting 😕

I think I'm going to back up the old folder and then delete as a user above mentioned, but let me know if you have any advice.

Thanks!

Hannah

Before you delete anything, Tim, can you make sure that you have all your files saved in your account online?

If you could also send us a screenshot of both the old and the new Dropbox folder, to compare, it would be really helpful.

TimReid

Hey Hannah,

I've done some more clicking around and noticed that some files hadn't synced to other devices or online - I'm very glad I checked before deleting. I have numerous shortcuts for projects added to my sidebar, so my theory is this: When updating to the new version of Dropbox, these shortcuts remained, keeping a duplicate version of the folders/files that is saved locally. This theory is backed up by right clicking on any folder/file and noticing there's no Dropbox functionality (sync, copy link, etc).

So my plan is to now merge the two folders and see what happens. Will let you know!

P.S. my clients wouldn't appreciate me sharing project names on a forum, so I'll skip the screenshots for now

Megan

Hey Tim, you might be onto something!

In any case, take your time, and update us when you can. Thanks!

ab303

Just updating everyone on my situation.

My original comment:

"Perhaps the copy folder was created as a backup during the migration I am not sure? I would like to delete this second duplicate folder as it takes up a lot of storage space, however want to make sure my files won't be affected. It would also be good to know I haven't lost any files during the migration."

I ended up moving the duplicate folder to an external drive and had no issues. I suspect perhaps my migration to the new Dropbox folder location was interrupted mid-copy and so it started again without deleting the partially complete folder, I am not sure, however something with the merge seems to have caused Dropbox to make a duplicate folder. In any case, I haven't noticed any files missing from my Dropbox in the new location notwithstanding that I effectively deleted the copy folder (i.e. moved it to an external drive). I'll probably keep this copy just in case.

The Music app issue was due to a setting in the Music app itself whereby imported audio files are added to the Music App Library, which was in a folder in my original Dropbox location. I assume that the Music program didn't automatically update the Music Library folder to the new DB location, so it automatically created another DB folder in line with the original Music Library file path name.

Thought Nozzle

Had this same issue – everything as described, including the sidebar alias.

Just now found out when I client asked where their files were… 😕

I'm going to use Carbon Copy Cloner to compare and sync the two folders on my Mac to make sure all got copied.

And I'm guessing that the older folder inside Cloudstorage folder can be deleted after that task… correct?

Thanks!