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Time machine forces smart sync to download files locally!

There is a huge problem when using smart sync as a Mac user who has time machine setup to automatically back up the entire hard drive (including the dropbox folder). If this is the case the time machine backup will trigger each an every one file that is set to 'online only' to be downloaded locally. If the amount of data on dropbox exceeds the hard drive space it slows down the entire computer!

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Rich

The files aren't on the computer so your backup software can't back them up. If it tries to access the files, Dropbox is likely bringing them local just like it's supposed to do (no different from when you access a file that's Online Only; it's downloaded). Dropbox likely can't differentiate between you accessing a file or another application accessing the file.

Your best bet would be to add an exclusion to your backup set so that it doesn't attempt to backup any files that are marked as Online Only.

Jane

Hey @touchepas, let me follow-up on your last reply more closely (& thanks for taking the time to post your feedback here)!

You may keep in mind that it isn’t currently possible to avoid this behavior:

<SPAN class=" author-d-iz88z86z86za0dz67zz78zz78zz74zz68zjz80zz71z9iz90za3z66zsz65z7gz85zz86zz70zz79zz80z3z85z6z87ziz78zz83zigfz86zz80z5z80zblcz70zz86z">However, I wonder whether there is a way to prevent dropbox from doing so if it is a 'read trigger' by time machine?</SPAN>

On the other hand though, I understand that this functionality is important to you & for that reason I’ve made sure to pass your comments & overall feedback on to our team for future consideration.

Please don’t hesitate to post here again at any time in case you need further assistance & we’ll do our best to check back with you. Happy Friday!

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Jane

Hey @touchepas,

Thanks for checking in with us on the Dropbox Community regarding this syncing question, let me send over some tips below!

You may keep in mind that back up services are set to see your actual files as they have their own versioning system & they need to recognize any changes by constantly monitoring the files in question, so as to complete the requested action.

Off the top of my head, your best bet at the moment to use both apps would be to utilize the Selective Sync feature instead.

Hopefully my tip helps you accomplish your task & please let me know here in case you have more questions. Wishing you a lovely weekend ahead!

Rich

touchepas

Hi guys, thanks for taking the time to reply to this. I completely get as to why this is how dropbox behaves at present, i.e. that the time machine request triggers the download of the file. However, I wonder whether there is a way to prevent dropbox from doing so if it is a 'read trigger' by time machine?

What I really would like to continue doing is to be able to backup my dropbox folder to my time machine automatically as this gave me extra peace of mind that I physically have a copy of my important files. It was good enough for me to have this physical copy only of the files that are physically on my hard disk, i.e. I used selective sync.

Having smart sync is however a great new feature for me as I have a ton of files on my dropbox that I do not need regularly but which I really love being able to find via spotlight etc.

So it looks like I'm between a rock and a hard place and for now need to exclude my dropbox folder from time machine and run a scripted backup from time to time from the command line to an extrenal drive using rclone. Given I'm using a laptop this is far less comfortable than using time machine over Wifi and I might of course forget to do the manual backup quite frequently.

Jane

Hey @touchepas, let me follow-up on your last reply more closely (& thanks for taking the time to post your feedback here)!

You may keep in mind that it isn’t currently possible to avoid this behavior:

<SPAN class=" author-d-iz88z86z86za0dz67zz78zz78zz74zz68zjz80zz71z9iz90za3z66zsz65z7gz85zz86zz70zz79zz80z3z85z6z87ziz78zz83zigfz86zz80z5z80zblcz70zz86z">However, I wonder whether there is a way to prevent dropbox from doing so if it is a 'read trigger' by time machine?</SPAN>

On the other hand though, I understand that this functionality is important to you & for that reason I’ve made sure to pass your comments & overall feedback on to our team for future consideration.

Please don’t hesitate to post here again at any time in case you need further assistance & we’ll do our best to check back with you. Happy Friday!

touchepas

Thanks very much Jane, it would be fantastic if there was a solution for this at some point!

Jane

Sure @touchepas, I’ve already made sure to pass your interest on to a higher level of support, though you may also keep in mind that these suggestions are actively monitored through various channels by our team specialists.

That said, you can rest assured that your voice is heard via the Community, as transparency is key to us frequenting the Forum. Cheers! :slight_smile:

Anne-Marie a.

That sounds like a great answer. How do you do that? How do you add an exclusion to a Time Machine backup that targets Dropbox online-files only?

AFAIK you only select files and folders in the Exclude window. There is no "file type" pattern matching or anything. And as soon as you select an online-file only, it looks like the Mac starts downloading it right there in the Exclude dialog box.

I am hoping that since you suggested it, you know how to do it. I have hundreds of gigs in my Dropbox folder and there isn't a way for me to quickly identify in this dialog which are selectively synced or not. Please share, thanks!

Anne-Marie a.

That sounds like a great answer. How do you do that? How do you add an exclusion to a Time Machine backup that targets Dropbox online-files only?

I am hoping that since you suggested it, you know how to do it. I have hundreds of gigs in my Dropbox folder and there isn't a way for me to quickly identify in this dialog which is selectively synced or not. Please share, thanks!

Jane

Hey @Anne-Marie a., let me clarify in a bit more detail below!

It’s my understanding that you’d like to follow my advice & make your files “Local” (so as to back them up in Time Machine)- which you can do in smaller batches using Selective Sync, is that correct?

If so, please follow the steps listed here:

#1. In case you have mixed state folders ☁️/ :white_check_mark: , you first have to make your files available locally withing the Dropbox folder. In case you don’t have the hard disk space to do so for the entire Dropbox folder in on go, you can Selectively Sync your content & repeat the backup within Time Machine until all your content is stored there.

Click the Dropbox icon from your menu bar. > Click on the :gear: icon, and then select Preferences… from the menu. >Click Sync. > Click Change settings…

A window will appear with a list of all the main folders in your Dropbox folder:

The folders with a check next to them are synced to your computer.

Uncheck any folders that you don't need to sync to your computer's hard drive.

Folders you uncheck will be removed from your hard drive, but will still be available on dropbox.com and on any other computers linked to your Dropbox account.

When you're done, select OK.

#2. Once you finish backing up your content, you may exclude the Dropbox folder from Time Machine again & make your files Online-only as previously or adjust your settings according to your preference.

I hope this is helpful to you Anne-Marie!

Anne-Marie a.

Jane, I appreciate the answer, but no that's not what I was asking.

I want to know how to tell Time Machine to *ignore* the Selective Sync files. I think you or someone else suggested that.

I came here just now, a couple months later, because the same bizarre behavior just happened again. I'm guessing it has to do with Time Machine, which is running, but I'm not certain.

Here's what happened: I imported an .mp4 video on my Mac into another program and then started getting multiple alerts that Dropbox was downloading all sorts of selectively synced .mp4 files, none of which was the .mp4 I imported. After the 3rd or 4th alert I thought to take a screenshot:

Looking at the Dropbox menu from the title bar, there was nothing about it downloading these files, not in Notifications nor Recent Files. But the alert kept popping up with names of different .mp4's. I tried turning on Pause Syncing, but that didn't stop the alerts.

Why did this happen? Was it Time Machine? Did I happen to try to import a selectively synced .mp4 and that "woke Dropbox up" to start downloading other mp4s? I'm 90% sure that the .mp4 I imported was in my Downloads folder, outside of Dropbox.

I thought to look at my Notifications, and it appears Dropbox was unsuccessful:

As I said, "IDS_quotes.mp4" was *not* the video I was importing. I don't remember the names of the other ones, but they weren't the same video either.

I'm going to post this to tech support too, but in case it has something to do with Time Machine (which is running on my Mac, and is set to backup my local Dropbox folder too), I thought I'd post it here.

Plus, reply to your post, since it's apparent I wasn't clear.

Jane

Hey there (@Anne-Marie a.), thanks or reaching back out to me on this discussion on the issue & apologies for the slight delay in replying on my end.

Are you still experiencing the same behavior? I’ve made sure to run a search on our system on my end, I’ve located your newest ticket & I can see that my colleague has been awaiting your reply, in order to investigate what happened. You may have a look at your inbox for their latest message at your earliest convenience & please keep them updated with the requested info on this email chain, as it’s best for us to keep all relevant info in one correspondence.

I hope that this gets resolved soon for you & I’m always here in case you’d need further assistance in any way, just keep me updated in your next reply & I’ll do my best to check back with you. I’m wishing you a wonderful rest of your day ahead!

Anne-Marie a.

Hi Jane, I have not seen it happen again since that day. It must have been sunspots or some other celestial event causing a glitch. ;-) Thanks, I'll find and close out the tech support request.

Jane

Ah, that’s great to hear @Anne-Marie a. & thanks a lot for circling back to me to let me know of the outcome. I’m always around, so feel free to ping me back again in case you have more questions in the future & take care until we talk again!

Bsimms

I ran into this problem as well and I think I have a pretty good workaround. I use Forklift to backup folders via synching. If you use Forklift and synch your DB folder to an external, the first time it will local synch anything that is online only, but once it has been synched once you can then go back to the DB folder and turn everything back to online-only. New files and changes will get copied over when you run Forklift again, but not the online only stuff remains untouched. Seems to be working perfectly for me.

davemill

I recently went through the same SmartSync/TimeMachine conflict that so many Mac users have complained about on the forums. As a loyal DropBox user (who plans to keep using and recommending DropBox!) I wanted to make one thing clear to the Dropbox team:

You disappointed us.

Dropbox has been a delight as long as it's been available. Everyone I show it to loves it and many start using it. It has never caused a technical glitch, and seems as well integrated into the Apple Finder as any Apple product. We love it.

Then you announced SmartSync along with a price increase. It sounded like a great deal, the answer to our dreams. And it exploded in all of our faces.

Guys, you knew this would happen. My guess is that there are a lot of Apple Fanboys at Dropbox, and that many of you use Time Machine. You have always delighted us in the past. Why did you dangle this new feature in our faces and not warn us of the conflict with Time Machine?

Yes, I love DropBox. Yes, I will continue to use it without Smartsync. Yes, I will continue to recommend it to friends. And Yes, we expect to see warnings in BIG RED LETTERS on all of your SmartSync support pages that it conflicts with Time Machine. Heck, you can probably figure out a way to identify whether Time Machine is enabled on a particular Mac and warn users in real-time. Let's get back to DropBox Delight!

Jane

Hey @davemill, I’ve now moved your post under this discussion, so as to add your voice to the feedback we’re gathering on the Community regarding this behavior. We are trying to make Dropbox the best it can be, so I’ll make sure your constructive feedback reaches the right pair of eyes as we take your feedback seriously.

Thanks for choosing Dropbox & I'm always here in case you'd like to share your thoughts or observations Dave!

Michael S.49

I switched to Carbon Copy Cloner when I ran into this problom upon upgrading to Dropbox Pro. I do like to have a local backup of my dropbox folder and am content to have it only contain the files that are currently local in my DB folder. Carbon Copy Cloner seem to not have a problem with this.

megsmakesart

I just had my Dropbox folder excluded from my Time Machine backup under Options. As Dropbox backs up to Dropbox, there's really no need to back the files onto an external harddrive.