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Forum Discussion
mpjetst
2 years agoHelpful | Level 6
Oops - running out of room on my initial sync.
I am setting up a new computer and syncing the files already on Dropbox from the previous computer. I failed to set one huge folder to online-only, and now I am running out of space on the new comput...
- 2 years ago
Megan, thanks for the quick reply. I'm wondering why Dropbox doesn't check for enough room on the destination before proceeding. Isn't this information available to Dropbox? Even a short reminder to the user would be better than just letting them jump off the cliff.
No, my dropbox install halted with about 1 meg left on my hard drive. Fortunately, I was able to find a backup of the huge folder and delete it so I was not stuck. When I made room drobpox immediately resumed and began to make the offending folder "online-only" and the universe righted itself. All is good.
In my case I have been a dropbox user for a long time and because it's so seamless and transparent (a good thing) I just forgot to check. That and KIDS were home that day.
If you want a couple of suggestions (1) alert a user when the files to be downloaded exceed the available room and (2) offer an option to restore the legacy system between download destinations - the folder on my "old" computer was set to "online-only" so it never occurred to me that the move to another computer wouldn't carry over.
Thanks again!
mpjetst
Helpful | Level 6
Megan, thanks for the quick reply. I'm wondering why Dropbox doesn't check for enough room on the destination before proceeding. Isn't this information available to Dropbox? Even a short reminder to the user would be better than just letting them jump off the cliff.
No, my dropbox install halted with about 1 meg left on my hard drive. Fortunately, I was able to find a backup of the huge folder and delete it so I was not stuck. When I made room drobpox immediately resumed and began to make the offending folder "online-only" and the universe righted itself. All is good.
In my case I have been a dropbox user for a long time and because it's so seamless and transparent (a good thing) I just forgot to check. That and KIDS were home that day.
If you want a couple of suggestions (1) alert a user when the files to be downloaded exceed the available room and (2) offer an option to restore the legacy system between download destinations - the folder on my "old" computer was set to "online-only" so it never occurred to me that the move to another computer wouldn't carry over.
Thanks again!
Hannah
2 years agoDropbox Staff
Hey mpjetst, thanks for the update here!
I'm glad that, despite the hiccup, you were able to resolve this and continue syncing.
I've made sure your comments are passed along to our team and if you need anything else, please let us know.
- Rob7272 years agoNew member | Level 2
So, to clarify this:
I set the folder to online only.
Now, can I now delete the folder out of my computer to free up much needed space, then look in the app for the folder later on when I want to work on it?- Rob7272 years agoNew member | Level 2
Cont’d
….and not delete the files off the bosses Dropbox. Just my local computer
- mpjetst2 years agoHelpful | Level 6Rob727, I'm no expert but it depends. You are OK setting the folders or files to online only but then STOP. Give it some time depending on how large the total files are and your internet speed. After your Dropbox app processes everything you will have gained all that space back although you will still see the files/folders with a different icon.
From what I understand, whether you deleting the "ghost" files/folders will also delete them from your boss's computer depends on how the "owner" set them up. You may indeed have permission to remove them permanently.
If I'm correct, leave the empty ghost files/folders there on your computer. They don't take up space and you'll have access to them if needed. If you need one or two in case the internet isn't reachable, that's when you set them to "available offline."
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