Trying to copy a folder from an external drive to Dropbox, but get error about the disk space.

[chrisryanphotog]

Hi all,

I have just upgraded to Dropbox with 2 TB of storage. I am trying to copy a folder of 76.62 GB from an external hard drive to Dropbox which has 1.84 GB in it. I am getting the message: Not enough disk space to copy...Aditional 2 GB of disk space his required to copy this file. You can manage disk space by removing items from the Storage section of About this Mac. I have already made files Online Only. What am I doing wrong?

[Walter]

Hey @chrisryanphotog, thanks for using Dropbox and welcome to the Community!
 

From the sounds of it, you must be running out of hard drive space on your computer - the message you get isn't referring to your Dropbox quota. 

Did you give enough time to the desktop app to sync your changes after setting your file to be online only?

Is the desktop app 'up to date' or still syncing in your menu bar perhaps?

Let me know what you find!

[chrisryanphotog]

Hi Walter,

Thank you for the quick response and advice.

Yes, my MacBook Pro is running out of space, that's partly why I am putting files onto Dropbox. I think you're right, I needed to allow the app to sync changes after setting the files to be online only. I have successfully transferred files today without problem however I must control/click on each folder and set each one to online only every time I choose another folder to copy to Dropbox. Is there a way of setting preferences to make all new files to be online only?

Regards,

Chris

[Walter · Accepted solution]

There should be an option for this in the app's preferences under the Sync tab, Chris. 

Can you give it a go and let me know if this helps? 

[chrisryanphotog]

Hi Walter,

Yep, I have the app preferences set to New Files Default: Online only. I'll let you know if I continue to have problems.

Thanks for your help.

[Walter]

No worries @chrisryanphotog - just let me know if anything comes up! 

[chrisryanphotog]

Hi Walter,

I'm still having trouble backing up an external hard drive. The Dropbox app won't recognise it. It's plugged in and the Finder on my MacBook Pro displays it and it's contents will open but the Dropbox app asks me to Add a Backup, plug in an external hard drive. Please advise if you can.

Thanks

[Hannah]

Hey @chrisryanphotog, can you check this out, to make sure that your external drive is supported?

[chrisryanphotog]

Yes, this helps. My external hard drive is encrypted. I want to copy the externeal hard drive to Dropbox, reformat the drive then copy everything back. I am now copying all the folders on the drive to Dropbox by drag and drop but I get the message: Not enough disk space to copy... I have set my preferences to Online Only. Why is this taking up disk space on my computer?

Thanks

[Hannah]

Hey Chris, I'm glad we figured out why you couldn't back up your external drive.

Now, as for the files taking up space, when you initially move/copy them to your external drive, they're set to available offline by default, in order to sync.

Once they're fully synced, that's when you can set them to online-only.

So, I'd suggest syncing the files in batches, switch each batch to online-only, then continue with the rest.