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Forum Discussion

Fridtjof1's avatar
Fridtjof1
Explorer | Level 4
11 months ago

Hard drive is full, even though the files are online only.

I have made lots of files online only to free up space on my hard drive, but dropbox has stopped syncing claiming that there is not enough disk space.

The top level folder says that it has 5TB of content, but in the four folders it contains there is less than 100 gb.

 

 

 

 

I have restarted dropbox, restarted the computer, and waited for ages, but the problem persists... Please help.

 

  • Nancy's avatar
    Nancy
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    Thanks for posting about this on our forum, Fridtjof1. Let’s have a look.

     

    Can you send me a screenshot of your Dropbox app’s current syncing status? 

     

    If you don’t mind, I'd also like a screenshot of your hard drive’s available space. 

     

    Finally, what's the current location of the local Dropbox folder on your computer, and your Dropbox app's version?

     

    Let me know when you've got more info.

    • Fridtjof1's avatar
      Fridtjof1
      Explorer | Level 4

      Hi, Nancy.

       

      This is on my work computer, and I'm not going back there until after christmas, so I can't send you a screenshot. 

       

      Dropbox has about 11 gb left to sync, so it's almost finished.

       

      Dropbox is located on an external 5tb hard drive, but even though the four folders in the dropbox folder is less than 100 gb in total, the drive says that it is full. It claims that there is 1 gb of remaining space. There is nothing else on the drive.

       

      Hope this answers your questions, even though i couldn't provide the screenshots 😉

      • Megan's avatar
        Megan
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

        Hi Fridtjof1, have you checked what is taking up space on your hard drive? 

         

        Is it Dropbox-related context or not?

         

        Also, if you access your general settings online, have you turned the Online-only files on Mac setting to "On"?

  • stephaniediffin's avatar
    stephaniediffin
    New member | Level 2

    I have made all of my dropbox folders online only but my computer's storage is still full from files that it says are from dropbox. These are shared files from an organization so I'm afraid to delete them from my computer but they've taken over my entire hard drive. And, every workaround I've tried from dropbox has not solved the issue.

    • Hannah's avatar
      Hannah
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

      Hey stephaniediffin, sorry to hear about this.

       

      Are you on a Windows or a Mac computer?

       

      What's the Dropbox app's current syncing status and version, when you hover your mouse over the Dropbox icon?

       

      And lastly, can you let us know what steps you've tried so far?

       

      Thanks in advance.