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jkim10's avatar
jkim10
Explorer | Level 4
7 years ago

It seems like Dropbox is filling up my hard drive

I am using dropbox for my work, and I mostly use excel files that do not exceed 30-40 MB.  But, it seems like about 3-4 GB is filling up everyday, while I do not download files with big size.  It s...
desktop
Storage space
Jane's avatar
Jane
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
7 years ago
Thanks for looping back to me here with your findings jkim10! Now, from what I gather from your description, your online-only files in Dropbox shouldn’t be taking up your hard disk space since the folder's Properties display the physical size correctly, though it seems that you may need to monitor & analyze how you’re currently utilizing your available space locally on your pc in a bit more depth (i.e. for that reason it would be best to contact your IT department/ search online for the best next steps &c). 
 
In any event, I hope that this gets resolved soon for you & I remain at your entire disposal should you have any additional questions. In the meantime, take care until we talk again!
NJtoTX's avatar
NJtoTX
Helpful | Level 5
5 years ago

Hi, I have a similar issue. I had 13 GB on my hard drive, did a search, Dropbox filled my hard drive and then failed to download more synced files and told me to free up space on my hard drive.  So now I have 3.9 GB free on my hard drive, and it's not going back up.

  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    5 years ago

    Hi NJtoTX; thanks for joining this discussion and sorry to hear about this.

     

    Based on your description, I'm assuming that you searched for files that were set to be Online Only through the Smart Sync feature and upon that, the files synced down to your machine as local ones, thus taking up space on your hard drive.

     

    Can you take a look at the overlay icons of your Dropbox folder's content and let me know if that's the case indeed? 

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