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Forum Discussion

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

Mac slows down on starting with paid Dropbox.

I have to wait on my macs (27" and two 13" Macbook, three and four years old, newest systems) almost 10 to 15 Minutes until i can use other apps, as dropbox syncs so slow the list. After list is loaded, the file syncing is in normal speed.

An update to the next level (where Smartsync is possible) is too expensive.

So what to do?

Best regards

Josef

  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    7 years ago
    To my mind, the most likely cause should be that files on one of your Macs are removed (i.e. using the Selective sync feature), therefore this has improved your overall syncing speed Josef (pmeier). That’s merely a guess of course, though would you mind checking back to see if this applies to your current setup on either of your devices?  
     
    Additionally, I’d suggest having a look here for some tips to adjust your bandwidth locally, which will help you speed up syncing a bit when it comes to your files uploaded/ downloaded via the client. 
     
    I hope that my advice is a bit more helpful. Let me know how you get on with these steps & we’ll take it from there Josef. Wishing you a wonderful week ahead!
  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    Hey Josef (pmeier), to help you diagnose the behavior, let me quickly ask you a couple of questions in regards to your current file structure & then advise on how to best resolve that!
     
    For starters, it would be worth checking back on the files updated on your account on a specific timeframe Josef.  If there was a significant number of changes, then Dropbox will scan your system & compare the versions, in order to update all your local files to your website view. 
     
    When Dropbox syncs your files it starts with all of the folders & then moves on to files from smallest to largest. Please be patient and the files will sync. In other words it will either say "all files up to date" or tell you how many files are left to sync and how long it expects to take. Please note that this is an "instant" estimate based on the current upload speed. This value can change if you check the value just a few seconds later. 
     
    In case you’d like to start all other applications on this device & then launch Dropbox manually, you could disable the autostart through the desktop application Preferences. (Dropbox logo on your menu bar> :gear: icon> Preferences> General> Uncheck the Start Dropbox on system startup box.)
     
    Spoiler

    From there, you could also utilize our Selective Sync feature that will reduce the overall load of the client & improve syncing. 
     
    Hopefully my advice is helpful & please do keep me updated on this discussion on how my pointers work for you!
    • pmeier's avatar
      pmeier
      Explorer | Level 4

      Dear Jane,

      thanks for the informations!

      I wonder, why this problems after >Restart< happen not on the Macbook Air, but on the same old 27" Mac? Both have similar systems.

      Is there a Tip?

       

      Best regards

       

      Josef

      • Jane's avatar
        Jane
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        To my mind, the most likely cause should be that files on one of your Macs are removed (i.e. using the Selective sync feature), therefore this has improved your overall syncing speed Josef (pmeier). That’s merely a guess of course, though would you mind checking back to see if this applies to your current setup on either of your devices?  
         
        Additionally, I’d suggest having a look here for some tips to adjust your bandwidth locally, which will help you speed up syncing a bit when it comes to your files uploaded/ downloaded via the client. 
         
        I hope that my advice is a bit more helpful. Let me know how you get on with these steps & we’ll take it from there Josef. Wishing you a wonderful week ahead!
  • Stephdell's avatar
    Stephdell
    Explorer | Level 4
    Hi please can you help. Dropbox has just started zapping my Mac on stRr up. I cannot do anything and it is taking an age to sync. I’m running the latest iOS and have never had this problem before. It’s been happening all week and has taken up most of my work week trying to sort it
    • Shaun S.10's avatar
      Shaun S.10
      Collaborator | Level 8
      Does your computer have an HDD or SSD? If you have an HDD you may choose option not to have Dropbox run at startup. This will help your computer boot. Once it boots you could manually start Dropbox. However, this is the same issue I had and the only solution that seems to be working is upgrading to a decent SSD. I choose to upgrade the entire laptop to Apples latest 15 mbp. That worked like a charm. The software is using lots of hard drive resources these days and can truly benefit from SSD.
      • mtherien's avatar
        mtherien
        New member | Level 2

        The trick of starting dropbox in Terminal (or *.command script) seems to solve the freezing issue at dropbox startup due to cpu hog.

        Problem was happening regularly, every month or so on 2019 macmini with 1TB ssd and 64gig ram. Sometimes dropbox failed to start at all. Not sure if issue returns everytime dropbox is updated. On each launch Was getting warning "Dropbox was downloaded from internet". Maybe fixed by:  sudo chown -R  $USER /Applications/Dropbox*

         

        Also, When started from Terminal it does not seem  freeze up the mac, so possible work-around.

        1.  Create file named /Users/Shared/DropboxDelayedStart.command as follows...

        In TextEdit -> Make plain text, (or nano) paste in following and save-as /Users/Shared/DropboxDelayedStart.command

        sleep 20
        echo "Starting Dropbox after 20 second delay"
        sleep 5
        /Applications/Dropbox.app/Contents/MacOS/Dropbox

        2. In Terminal:

        chmod a+x/Users/Shared/DropboxDelayedStart.command

        3 Quit dropbox, then double-click /Users/Shared/DropboxDelayedStart.command  and it should start dropbox after 20-sec delay. If not double-check steps above.

        4. Once you know Delayed start works, then  In SysPrefs: Users: Login Items,  remove Dropbox and add /Users/Shared/DropboxDelayedStart.command

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