Child Item

Dropbox is trying to download my offline files and I can't move my Dropbox folder to another drive.

Device

(Dell PC)
Operating System/Browser (if using the web)

(Windows 11)

Question or Issue

I have been trying to change the location of my Dropbox folder using the Change location tab in the preferences......sync part of my app, from am almost full C: drive to my virtually empty drive. The process begins, and although all of my files are stored offline, the program begins to download them, and ultimately the process stops since my original C: Dropbox folder is out of storage. Is there a fix for this problem? Thanks

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Desktop

Storage space

Sync

Windows

Folders

Comments

Nancy

Hi @ArnieF! Thanks for posting here today.

In order to successfully move your Dropbox folder from one drive to another, you’ll need some free hard drive space indeed.

Can you clarify what you mean though when saying that the Dropbox app tries to download your files, even though they’re already available offline?

You can also send me a screenshot of your local Dropbox folder, so that I can double check the current syncing status of your files there and see what may be happening.

Keep me posted.

ArnieF

Hi Nancy,

Thanks for the reply. I was not clear in my description. All of my files are stored "online only", and all have the cloud symbol associated with them. My C: Drive only has 24g free (of 219g), and my Dropbox files use 338g of my 2TB Dropbox storage. What I would like to know is if I can somehow move the file location to my drive that has 800G free so I do not have space issues on my C: drive, which houses my OS, etc. when I either add files or want to view them on my PC.

ArnieF

Nancy

Thanks for clarifying that, Arnie! Can you also let me know if the current syncing status of your Dropbox app is up to date?

If it is, and you follow these steps, does it try to make everything available offline again before attempting to move the Dropbox folder?

In case it does, please send me some screenshots of what you see and I'll have a look.

Generally, you should be able to transfer the Dropbox folder from one drive to another, but since the storage space of the current drive seems to be blocking the process here, we’ll need to check that first.

ArnieF

Thanks. Still blocked from moving the folder due to storage space. Can I achieve this by uninstalling and re-installing and set options for the drive? If so, can you please give me detailed instructions to not only get a full clean uninstall but how to use Advanced options to set my drive path.

Thanks so much

Hannah

Hey @ArnieF, I hope it's okay to jump in here.

Just had a thought; if you were to remove your folders from the Dropbox folder, using the selective sync feature and then try to move your Dropbox folder, does the app allow you to do so?

thomashighbaugh

Might be better to try and clear temporary files that Windows caches from the C drive with "Disk Maintence" or whatever Windows calls it these days (don't use it) and see if it frees up the cache. Or clearing out other data from the C drive (maybe by backing it up to Dropbox...) or re-installing Dropbox and selecting in the installer the D drive for the Program Files (or whatever its called).

Reinstalling windows is going to clear out some of the temporary files, the ones Windows is aware it stashed in your system (like updates) but there are probably other sources of some of the data congestion as well hampering your C drive that may or may not be cleared through reinstalling.