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Forum Discussion
Dropbox desktop on Mac corrupts files -- downloading from web is fine
I've got a Mac with a small SSD -- smaller than my Dropbox account. So I use "Selective Sync" to keep most of my large photo library in the cloud. When I need some files, I enable "Selective Sync" an...
In case anyone is interested in the solution for this problem -
Files were erroneously marked as 'online only', a smart-sync feature (even though smart-sync wasn't even enabled).
I had to enable it and mark the files as 'local' (via the context menu), which solved the problem.
hth
- I am not trying to open the files when they are still syncing. The Dropbox widget says "Up To Date".
- I am using Dropbox v82.4.155 on MacOs 10.14.6
- The JPEGs have not been recently edited at all. No modifications to the files since initially syncing to Dropbox.
- I noticed this problem for the first time within the past week. I often use Selective Sync to restore my archived photographs, and have never had this problem before.
- The file that syncs and the file that I download from the Dropbox website definitely differ. The file sizes are the same, however the command line utility "diff" shows that the files differ. Also, the files have different MD5 hashes. Finally, the file I download from the Dropbox website behaves normally (I can view the JPEG in Preview and other apps), while the other version is not a valid JPEG.
- Here is the error message I get when I try and open any JPEG file that syncs via the Dropbox app:
I used the program vbindiff to examine the files. The difference is obvious. The Dropbox app is creating a file with the same name, extension, and file size. However the contents of the file are completely empty. Every byte is "00", whereas the files I dowload from Dropbox.com have lots of data in them. It is as if the Dropbox app is allocating the space for the files, but never actually syncs the contents of the files.
I'm experiencing the exact same problem (selective sync, zero-ed out files).
Client version: v84.4.170
OS version: 10.14.6
In case anyone is interested in the solution for this problem -
Files were erroneously marked as 'online only', a smart-sync feature (even though smart-sync wasn't even enabled).
I had to enable it and mark the files as 'local' (via the context menu), which solved the problem.
hth
- Fiona
Dropbox Staff
Hello there!
Being opted-out of the system extension may also mean that if you have existing placeholder files (files with the grey cloud icon) and try to open them by double-clicking the file, you may see an error. You can ultimately open these files by right-clicking on them and choosing to make the file "local" as you correctly mentioned akariv.
Just confirming what you said here is accurate. :white_check_mark:
Thanks for posting your solution.
