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Forum Discussion
Dropbox keeps (re)indexing and syncing after activating smart sync
I've recently activated the smart sync functionality for my teams account. When I did, Dropbox started indexing and syncing a huge number of files which made sense to me because it needed to download...
Hi Minato,
Thanks for your reply. I decided to reinstall the Dropbox desktop application yesterday. After I did, I waited another couple of hours for a full sync, but once that was done the issue seems to have disappeared. The Dropbox app now reports that it's fully up to date and seems to stay that way (except for normal syncing behaviour when a file is changed).
I propose I wait to see if the problem reoccurs, and if it does I will create a ticket at the support page as per your suggestion.
Kind regards, Wietse
Lusil
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHi MrV, thanks for nudging us here and welcome to the Dropbox Community!
As a first step, I'd recommend checking out this article in case one of the ways listed helps tackle this behavior.
Let me know how it goes!
Hi Lusi,
Had a quick look and I have to say that the problem isn't as much the high resource draw (well just time as it doesn't slow down the device that much) from the computer rater the general behavious of Always needing to sync once the computer starts up. The fact that it has to go through this process Every time creates a great delay in synking actuall files I need and also chews up battery.
I will check more in depth re number of files etc as per artice, but overall, even on my 1t 16gb ram SurfaceBook it's taking it's time Every time you restart the computer and DB desktop start up fresh.
To test it for myself again, I left my Surface Go to fully complete sync over night. Then in the morning I restarted the device and observed the following.
6.35 device restart
6.36 device up and running
6.37 db desktop app started
6.42 db complets startup sequence and begins to check for changes
6.47 db check for changes complete - now starting to synk 34.000 files (!!!!)
7.03 db 16.500 files left to sync (I have fast fibre btw)
7.12 db 3000 files left to sync
7.15 db sync complete
Total run time: 40min
Now, how is it possible that 34.000 files need synking when I know that nobody is using our filing system at that time (guarateed) and minutes prior, before restarting the device, DB was up to date.
I went through almost the identical timeline this evening when starting up the surface. I don't ever remember experiencing the same issue when I used to have our entire DB folder stored on my drive, just now when I have started using smart sync to save space.
I only run smart sync and no selective sync as all folders are ticked.
Many thanks for any thoughts or comments.
V
That's not a bad thought but my surface go is almost brand new with absolutely minimal software installed. Just bare essentials Office and browser sort of thing. Struggling to think that there is anything wrong with the filing structure as the device is new with a clean install and has behaved like this straight away.
My samsung laptop is also bare bone install and behaves the same. My surface book has a fair bit on it but still... they all behave the same.I have tried reinstalling the desktop app on both surfaces with no effect. Took 30min with 30k files synking again this morning.
Nothing smart about the smartsynk haha :slight_smile:
Btw, i never really engage to write to support etc but this is definetly getting to me that much that I am!
- Lusil
Thanks for the additional info and sorry to hear about your frustration, MrV.
I've followed up with a ticket to the email address connected to your Community profile so that we can have a more in depth look into this together.
When you have the chance, please check your inbox and we'll take it from there. Cheers!
Is there any development in this case?
I have the same problem with 42.000 files that are synching and resynching again.
This happened when my dropbox had stopped synching after the "out of space" event.
I had deleted lot of files so as to free space, I 've managed taht one, but unfortunately it occured now the re-synching event (in contrast with my laptop , where everything is ok)I have already reinstalled the dropbox without having a solution. My system in my desktop is windows 7
I dont have any firewall, or antiviruse , malware app.
Is there any cure? Thank you in advance
I have something somewhat similar occurring. The last few months (2 or so), it's as though suddenly, Dropbox is using all my available bandwidth and synching takes forever. I've used DB for nearly a dozen years, so it's not like I'm unfamiliar with what to expect.
What's odd is, for example, I'll add one new 300mb video to a DB folder with 200 other videos. The next thing I know, all of the videos are being re-synched and reindexed. For no apparent reason and when I check on the website, it advises me that they've all been "updated" when no--they haven't. This is affecting the performance of my computer significantly, in terms of eating upload time, download time, and it's even whacking my VOIP. (I have to turn off DB synching to use my d*mn phone!). I've never had to do this before, not even close.
I really don't know what the Hades to do about it, either. I have 42.5% of slightly over 3TB used. I'm at the point of thinking that I should nuke DB or nuke half of it and move the rest of my files to a straight server, like S3.
- How I solved this problem is this: I found out that I could see which item stayed un-synced. I cut and pasted that item elsewhere and Dropbox worked properly again. In my case it was a zipped file that caused the trouble.
Hi, DragonLover: Thanks, but sadly, that's not going to help me. I'm having this issue across the entirety of my Dropbox, apparently and something--something--has changed in the last few months.
I've run the same setup, same computer, same speeds, bandwidth, etc., for a decade and all of a sudden, it's as though half my bandwidth has disappeared, even though my speed and png tests say it hasn't. Something, somewhere, is screwing up the works and it seems to be oddly coincidental that there appears to have been a major DB overhaul around the same time.
Very interesting! I've had it doing a very similar thing. Well effectively hogging the bandwidht. It was actually my colleagues surface book which started running hot and the fans kicking in twice a day. This happened for a few weeks and when I bothered to ask him he said that it was DB synking. After looking at it a bit more I noticed that his DB had been synking, for NO reason files that were Already Synked over and over again taking upp all the bandwitdh.
Not sure what he ended up doing but it's not doing it any more. DB never used to be this way.
I undersatnd your frustration!Thanks Lusi,
I have been busy with work and it seems that things are working on my work computer which is good. Will have to check back at my surface go and see if it's still missbehaiving. You don't notice it as much when connected to fiber as it does the stupid operation quicker but it defenetly cost me money when it did it without me realising while the computer was connected to my phone as a hotspot.
Thanks for your assitance so far.
- Lusil
Thanks for keeping me in the loop, glad to hear that it's resolved for one of your devices, MrV. :relieved:
Also, thanks for taking the time to share what did the trick for you, DragonLover - awesome work! :slight_smile:
maffye and Hitch, if you're still having trouble, could you send me a screenshot (without personal info) of what your Dropbox icon shows when you hover over it?
Let me know of any updates, peeps!
