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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.
Here's the usual situation with me and Dropbox. I'm a VFX artist. I primarily have to use Dropbox for clients who arent smart enough to realize it's a terrible solution for shared cloud storage.
Client A, pays for business dropbox (I assume, has tons of space). I have no interest in having any of their files SYNCED to my devices, though access to download them (once) is needed. I have a personal dropbox account. they share folders to me to download stuff only. I then upload files to THEIR storage which again, I already have on my drive locally and have no interest in SYNCING to my devices or anything. I just need to use their storage to upload/download.
Client A assumes that when they share a folder with me, I can use it. Reasonable assumption.
They share a folder, I'm all of a suddon waaaay past my quota (12TB shared folder) and cant send them my work.
And then we go back to FTP.
Every. gorram. time.
I'd like to remind everyone that Dropbox did not always do this. Up until a few years ago shared folders did NOT count against your quota, and everything was wonderful.
Giving me access to a 200TB shared folder shouldnt force me to pay for anything more, since that space on Dropbox's servers has already been paid for by the person who bought the space to begin with. This is Dropbox's way of double (or triple, quadruple) dipping on payment for used space. The space taken up on my device costs dropbox nothing, only the server-side stuff does, and as we know, giving someone write access to an existing drive costs them nothing more. (Aside from bandwidth I suppose, so Id be willing to pay the electric on handling my bandwidth...)
It is utterly unacceptable to expect every artist on a project (there may be 20 of us) to pay for the same space that has already been paid for by the client. Sure if we want to "Own" that folder too, it'd make sense. But we need a way to choose to NOT own it. Until that happens Dropbox is not an option for any of my work.
