Child Item

How can I "reset" dropbox on linux (clearing cache didn't work?)

I keep my desktop and laptop synced using Dropbox (with the added benefit of online backups).

A couple of days ago, for no apparent reason, Dropbox on my laptop started re-uploading/downloading a massive amount of files (it's currently stuck at "Uploading 745000 files" and "Downloading 69000 files", without much change for a long time.

1. Any idea what happened?

2. How can I completely restart the sync process, *without* having to re-download everything? I have over 450GB on dropbox, and 99.99% of the files are already in sync between online/my desktop/my laptop. I tried deleting dropbox's cache (~/Dropbox/.dropbox.cache) but it didn't change anything. I'm afraid of deleting ~/.dropbox/* because I don't want to cause mayhem or re-download everything? What should I do?

Find more posts tagged with

Desktop

Sync

Insightful

Closed - Partially Delivered

Comments

Jay

Hi @ldorigo, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

There can be various reasons as to why the Dropbox desktop application would force a resync of the entire Dropbox account.

Currently, there isn't a way to restart it like you're asking. Are there any files that don't have the green icon on them should that they're synced?

This will help me to assist further!

ldorigo

Hi,

I'm not sure, I don't use a file manager - but using `dropbox-cli filestatus`/`dropbox-cli ls`, it looks like most files are currently being synced?

Jay

What version of the Dropbox app are you running?

ldorigo

I'm on v183.4.7058

Hannah

Thanks for this info, @ldorigo.

Since a few hours have passed now, can you check if the sync status of the app is still the same?

Or is it progressing?

ldorigo

Hi, no, still exactly the same.

Walter

Hey @ldorigo, could you update to the latest, stable version of the desktop app from this page and let us know if the issue persists?

ldorigo

I am on the latest version now, uninstalled and reinstalled, and deleted ~/.dropbox for good measure. spent some hours indexing, now it's again downloading/uploading a huge amount of files:

Walter

Thanks for the screenshot and the additional information @ldorigo

May I ask how many files you've got syncing locally on your device approximately? Have you tried using selective sync to lessen the app's load by any chance?

ldorigo

Hi,

I just checked, have around 800k files and directories under the dropbox folder. I have more than enough hard drive space, so I'd really rather avoid having to start playing with selective sync - does that number seem more than what dropbox can handle?

Walter

There's a soft limit of 300K files so I'd suggest that you use selective sync to un-sync some of your folders from your device @ldorigo

Could you give it a go and let us know how it goes?