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nino2's avatar
nino2
New member | Level 2
7 years ago

Storage Usage reported for online-only folders on Finder doesn't match the "User Info".

So after more than a year of discussion on pretty much the same topic, this  still has not been resolved. Sugesting that issue will be resolved in the next version of software is somewhat unacceptabl...
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Dropbox Basic
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  • HGohar's avatar
    HGohar
    7 years ago

    According to Dropbox team Jane, if the info about the dropbox folder is close or equal to zero bytes, it means it doesn't take any physical space on the hard disc. The problem I guess that the operating system still sees it as if it is taking that physical space and acts accordingly, i.e., full disc or neat full. I don't know what is the way around that.

     
Jane's avatar
Jane
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
Hey akaraetteh, & just to add to Walt3R’s comment that, when it comes to the screenshot, I can see that your “Acara” folder is a Mixed state folder, meaning that it contains both local and online-only content, therefore it’s my understanding that the 40 GBs being reported as used are in fact residing on our Mac at the moment. 
 
Following, if it’s not too much trouble for you, could you repeat the same process for your "Demig0s” folder (the one that you’ve already marked as “Online-only” on the screenshot) & send me one more screenshot in your next post here? What do you see on the “User Info”? Does your folder report as taking up space, despite being Smart Synced? 
 
Thanks again for your ongoing cooperation here & I’ll be awaiting your next post on this discussion. Happy Friday! 
akaraetteh's avatar
akaraetteh
Helpful | Level 5
7 years ago
Hang on. I’m not disputing the 40GB. I (and many others) are frustrated that every folder reports its size as the size of the full folder, as if the OS doesn’t know files are online only

Eg I KNOW my Akara folder is only 40GB on my disk. But I can’t tell from my OS which folders are taking up the most space on my disk because the OS doesn’t report that. So if, for example, I want to free up some space on my disk, I can’t go to MacOS Finder, sort by size, and make the biggest folder online only. Because doing that won’t affect what is the “biggest” folder as reported to the OS.
The BIGGEST folder reported by the OS is only the folder that’s taking up the most space in the cloud, not the one taking up the most space locally

Furthermore I’m away for a week and so won’t be at my work computer. But if the update is available for Sierra I’ll make sure it happens (we’re very careful with upgrades as they often break something critical)
  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    7 years ago
    I understand akaraetteh & thanks for clarifying the specifics of your initial inquiry for me here, now I’m right on the same page with you. I’ve made sure to gather all the info you’ve included here & I’ll send that to the relevant team in form of a question. 
     
    Once I have more details on the matter, I’ll update the thread here. I hope you have a great weekend ahead & thanks again for posting your question on the Dropbox Community! 
    • akaraetteh's avatar
      akaraetteh
      Helpful | Level 5
      7 years ago

      Thanks for the replies and splitting of threads.

       

      Now that you've investigated that Finder reports sizes incorrectly, what are next steps? Do we live with this forever?

       

      Surely the point of Smart Sync is to allow us to save space. And in order to save space, we need to conveniently know how much space is being taken up. Having to individually "Get Info" on files/folders defeats this process. 

       

      Can we (as in dropbox) get in touch with Apple and get something about this behaviour updated?

      • Jane's avatar
        Jane
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        7 years ago
        Hey akaraetteh, thanks for getting back in touch, let me clarify in a bit more detail for you & we’ll take it from there! 
         
        As it’s my understanding that you’re referring to my last reply here, where I’ve explained the thread separation, I’d happily elaborate more on my fourth comment: 
         
        - The Properties (Win) and Get Info (Mac OS) panel will indicate the actual file size instead of the size on disk, as you may expect. “Size on disk” is the space being taken up by a placeholder file and should be around 0kb.
         
        (i.e.  based on our discussion above this is the closest match to what you’ve previously described) 
         
        You may keep in mind that there are various places to see the size of a file in Finder. Some of these locations will display the logical size, others the physical size. Let me re-iterate that when you set your files as online-only, there is a file that takes up approximately 0kb & this is the physical size. The logical size of the file is the actual size of the file, if it were downloaded to the device.
         
        That being said, I’ve asked you to include a screenshot of the view you’re getting on the “User Info” screen previously, as this is the most reliable source of info, whereas in other views of Finder, the operating system will report the logical size. 
         
        My advice to address the disc space usage inquiry you’re having would be to utilize the du command (& you may find all the relevant details online with a google-search), though I could also discuss the particulars in regards to your feature request via email, so as to make our team specialists aware of your requests & benefits of the feature in your workflow. Once you confirm that you’d like to continue this discussion via email, I’ll message you directly on my end. 
         
        Thanks again & I’ll be awaiting your next reply on this discussion! 

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