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Forum Discussion
Shawn B.14
5 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Dropbox is stuck syncing after an update, what can I do?
I have the "Dropbox Plus" subscription and I run the client on 4 computers.
Yesterday (Monday, 13-Jan-2020) I signed onto my desktop (which is always on) and has a full local sync of my dropbox...
Server_Align
Collaborator | Level 10
FOR Anyone witrh the NEW relase that is now STUCK syncing/restarting/limbo
OK what appears is the database DB uses to monitor your files was "updated" and the process requires a reindex. For reasons unknown thios doesnt seem to work anywhere near well enough.
Here was my solution to get around it.
1) UNLINK the PC, restart
2) rename the DROPBOX folder OLDBOX
3) LINK the PC, during signup, select to selectively sync NOTHING!
4) Once upto date (with no files present), change your settings to what they used to be, like save space settings etc, and apply
5) Once upto date (should be near instant), change the selective sync to what it used to be, and apply.
6) shutdown the DB app
7) move the content of the saved folder OLDBOX over top the the current dropbox content
8) start the DB app again
9) await it to sync/check/update (takes a while but is a **bleep** load faster now)
Its STEP 5 that I think helps, when you have cloud only files I expect you get all the reindex data sent to you from the dropbox servers as you dont have the files so cant reindex them. Then when you replace those with the original files and restart the app, it sees a real file and compares the content to the index data, and finds it the same so moves on. This appears alot quicker than reindexing the original files and then comparing it to the dropbox servers index data, its likely just a timing or bulk activity thing, that you get sent all the index data at once when you change the selective sync rather than fetching it yourself form the file then comparing that to the servers one file at a time.
I just got a server with 2+TB in 700k+ of files back up.
While it was processing a few files were updated rempotely and the syustem dealt with them as they appeared, likely on a sperate execution thread.
Hope this helps someone at least!
AngstromZA
5 years agoHelpful | Level 6
I'm starting to wonder if this is a memory adressing bug.
The DropBox app is listed as a 32 bit app on Windows 10 and I've noticed that while 'Starting...' or, if I'm lucky and get to 'Syncing...', the memory usage climbs up and up until it gets to the high 3GBs.
A 32 bit app can't address more than 4GB of memory as I undertand it so I'm curious if the crashing happens as the OS attempts to allocate more memory than the DB APP can actually handle.
Just my thoughts.
- Fiona5 years agoDropbox Staff
Hello again everyone.
PatWard I located your case and it is no longer with Daphne, this is why you don't have a response. The case is escalated from what I see and I just added a note with feedback and raised the priority. You should have a response soon. Keep me posted.
Server_Align Thank you for your participation.
AngstromZA I believe this article will help you understand more about this issue you are reporting: Why is the Dropbox desktop app using so much memory or CPU on my computer?
- tonyskate5 years agoHelpful | Level 5
Any progress on endless syncing, high CPU & disc usage? Not even Fix hardlinks is working now. Are you still gonna blame your paying users or finally admit that the latest two versions are buggy? Why there is not option to block auto update so we can install older version and have a working Dropbox?
- AngstromZA5 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Fiona : Thanks for the suggestion.
My point, however, is not why it is using a lot of memory but rather *that* it is using a lot of memory.
On a 32 bit system or with a 32 bit address space you can only allocate or address 2 to the power of 32 bytes, i.e. 4 294 967 296 bytes. Divide this by 1024 * 1024 * 1024 to convert to GB and you get a maximum of 4GB if the app is linked with IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE set at compile time. (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/win32/memory/memory-limits-for-windows-releases?redirectedfrom=MSDN)
This is true even if the operating system supports 64 bit addressing.
This is an oversimplification but I think it's worth noting.
Of course, this may be moot since some of the logs generated by the app indicate it was developed using Python which, I believe, should be protected by the garbage collector.
Anyhoo, just thinking out loud! :)
- Fiona5 years agoDropbox Staff
Thanks for sharing your thoughts AngstromZA. :slight_smile:
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