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Forum Discussion
Dropbox full because of shared folder
Hi, i have a dropbox account and the free space that i have is full because of the files inside the shared folder that i have with some friends.
Is there a way to avoid that the shared folder that ...
Your English is very good Michele - well done!
And no, if you need read write access to that folder if will use your quota. If you just need read only access leave the share and ask the other person sends you a read only Shared link.
You can LEAVE and REJOIN a shared folder when ever you like.
So one method of getting space is to LEAVE the shared folder. And REJOIN it when you need it.
If you ONLY need some files from the shared folder and ONLY at some times, I would additionally ask the owner of the shared folder for a LINK to it, in that way you can use the link to it and download via web the files you need when you need them.
Although I don't agree with Dropbox, and this is the primary reason I won't spring for Pro, I understand why they did this.
It's simple, really. Say, someone creates 10 free accounts. 10 x 2GB = 20GB. Now, that person, from each account shares a folder with his main account. That person just got more, free, space.
@Dave
It's a crap explanation because they CHOOSE to charge multiple times for the same space, not because they have to. Of course file ownership can be tracked either by the person who uploaded it, or by whose quota it is attached to. Other companies can do it, so they can too. It's not a technical limitation, it's their choice.
You can see this from actual disk usage compared to disk allowance - my usage is apparently many GB over my allowance, and it could be many TB over allowance with enough shared access.
Does this mean I get billed for this extra usage? No, it just means I can't use the allowance I have paid for. I'd be liable for a huge bill if I wanted to keep adding my own files, just because someone else has uploaded lots of data to a shared space - a shared space that a user may not have any choice but to keep connected as there could be other data in there they do need.
If multiple charges for shared files really is necessary because of the bandwidth used to download files, a fair way would be to only add files to usage totals when they get downloaded. If you don't access them, you don't get charged.
If they did that, I wouldn't complain. As you said, it's better to walk than talk, and that's exactly what I will be doing.
I'm a little curious about your reaction to everyone's comments here - you are quite vociferous in your defence of DropBox, yet you don't appear to be an employee, or even 'Super User' like Mark Mc above. Why does it matter to you so much?
