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Forum Discussion

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...
Desktop
Dropbox Basic
Sync
  • 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.

     
Juunas's avatar
Juunas
Experienced | Level 12

Hi Jane,

 

I stumbled upon this thread trying to troubleshoot the same issue. Your latest post from June says it's a known issue and being investigated, however I couldn't find a post mentioning it having been resolved. What's the current situation? I found a newer thread about the same problem and submitted a ticket with screenshots (ticket id 

#8217407).

 

Joonas

Jane's avatar
Jane
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
7 years ago
Hey Juunas, you may keep in mind that each individual case should be best addressed on a private discussion (i.e. via our Official Support channel), as we'd need to access sensitive account-specific info in order to get a clearer picture of the space usage (& that’s mostly the main reason why we have a few active discussions on the Forum, though each one is- usually- separate from the others).  
 
If I had to briefly wrap up this thread, I’d have to say that the request concerns the space reported on the Finder Window, which doesn’t match the “Get Info” & how that affects the sorting options on the OS. As I haven’t got an update on the progress to share with you at the moment, I can make sure to ask our higher-level technicians & circle back here once I have more info. 
 
Following, because I’d like to address your concerns in the best possible way & I appreciate all the time you took to write in to us, I’ve made sure to forward your request to a specialized colleague, who’ll clarify matters in more detail for you on your email communication. 
 
I hope my reply is - even slightly- helpful to you & I hope that you sort this out soon. Thanks for posting us on our Forum & enjoy the rest of your day! 
  • HGohar's avatar
    HGohar
    Helpful | Level 6
    7 years ago

    Dear Jane, I have the same problem. Has it been solved yet? I've been going thru the forum and don't seem to find a final answer / solution. Thank you

  • mikkokan's avatar
    mikkokan
    New member | Level 2
    7 years ago

    Still not working, using latest update and OSX Mojave.

  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    7 years ago

    Hey HGohar & mikkokan, can you please share the relevant info with me in regards to your concern, in order to follow-up with you in a bit more detail? Thanks in advance!

  • HGohar's avatar
    HGohar
    Helpful | Level 6
    7 years ago

    Thank you Jane for coming back to me. My dropbox shows that my files are synced to the cloud, however, the hard disc on my mac shows that these files still exist and occupying the same space. Therefore smart sync isn't freeing any space on the hard disc. The sync is complete and I can access it from other devices.

  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    7 years ago
    Hey HGohar, thanks for reaching back out to me on this discussion elaborating a bit on your initial post! 
     
    Your best course of action to determine how much space your your Dropbox folder is currently taking up on your device would be to refer to the Get Info on your Mac (or Properties on a pc). 
     
    As there are various places to see the size of a file in Finder, some of these locations will display the logical size, while others will show you the physical size. (Note: Smart Sync placeholders takes up approximately 0kb, which is the physical size. The logical size of the file is the actual size of the file, if it were downloaded to the device.)
     
    To see both the logical and physical file size:
    - Right click on a file/folder
    - Select 'Get info'
    - In the properties window you will see the original file size, followed by the actual on-disk size
     
    For example:428,510 bytes (0 KB on disk)
     
    It is important to be able to view both sizes, not just to reassure you that the file is not taking up space, but also to understand the space and speed implications of returning the file(s).
     
    In other views of Finder, the operating system will report the logical size. For this reason you shouldn't be concerned if it initially appears that the placeholder is taking up space. To confirm the file or folder is not taking up space, please check via the above steps. Files that are not taking up space on disk will have an icon overlay that changes from the usual green tick to the grey cloud icon, denoting that the file isn't locally present.
     
    Please do let me know how these pointers apply in your current setup & I’ll do my best to check back what’s happening. In order to follow-up more closely with you, I’d appreciate a screenshot of what you're seeing in your next post as well; I’ll be awaiting your next reply!
  • HGohar's avatar
    HGohar
    Helpful | Level 6
    7 years ago

    Thanks Jane, I followed the steps you mentioned. The Dropbox info shows it occupies 840kb (physical size 35 GB) however when comparing it with the "About this mac" ----> Storage---->Documents---->file browser it shows that it occupies 35 GB of the hard disc. So I'm not sure if my mac sees it at 840KB cause it is calculating the available space based on the physical rather than the logical size. I've tried to include a screenshot but I get an unexpected error message.

  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    7 years ago
    I appreciate your prompt reply here HGohar & please accept my apologies for the slight delay in getting back in touch with you. 
     
    Now, I’m also interested in seeing whether your Documents folder that’s taking up the 35 GB of your hard disk space consists entirely of files stored in Dropbox. If you can’t upload a screenshot directly on our Forum, could you upload it on your account & post us a shared link here, so as to get a better understanding of what’s happening? Thanks in advance! 
  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    7 years ago
    Thanks a lot for taking the time to post these screenshots for me here HGohar, it was really helpful! 
     
    To re-iterate my post in the previous page, some third-party apps may read the nominal file size rather than the physical size of the Dropbox folder & this pertains to the way the app or functionality is built. Despite the fact that the two values aren’t matching, I wouldn’t be worried if I were in your shoes, since the most accurate source to obtain this information (i.e. the file Properties- Get Info) reports the file-size correctly, therefore your files in Dropbox don’t take up any physical space on your device. 
     
    Hopefully this sheds some more light on the matter & please do keep us updated on this discussion if you have any follow-up questions! 
  • HGohar's avatar
    HGohar
    Helpful | Level 6
    7 years ago

     Thank you Jane for the clarification. So in your opinion, the large files I have on dropbox.com and don't see on my computer (as per settings) won't take any physical space if I chose to "see them" on the computer even if the storage info shows they occupy space so long the get info isn't confirming that, correct?

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