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Forum Discussion
Solved
Online-only files taking up space on my hard drive on Windows 11
I deleted the cache.
I checked the manage hard drive space via the dropbox menu and it also confirms that a ton of space is being used on the drive BUT there are no files listed that I could change...
Does the small files kept on the disk when it's set to online only have some kind of attributes that these file size programs are mistakenly thinking that the files are on the disk?
Look at the Properties window for one of the files and check the Size on disk attribute. This is the true size of the file on your local drive. For example, here's a 679 MB Zip file showing that it takes up 0 bytes on the disk.
Likewise, here's the properties of the entire Test folder, where the Zip file is located, showing that the folder is 691 MB but only takes up 11 MB on the disk.
If these values don't match what you're seeing in the third-party programs, then they may not be looking at the Size on disk attribute for the files.
Additional info: CCleaner and Foldersizers programs detect the actual size of the dropbox as if the files were on the local disk. Does the small files kept on the disk when it's set to online only have some kind of attributes that these file size programs are mistakenly thinking that the files are on the disk?
Rich
Super User II
Super User IIDoes the small files kept on the disk when it's set to online only have some kind of attributes that these file size programs are mistakenly thinking that the files are on the disk?
Look at the Properties window for one of the files and check the Size on disk attribute. This is the true size of the file on your local drive. For example, here's a 679 MB Zip file showing that it takes up 0 bytes on the disk.
Likewise, here's the properties of the entire Test folder, where the Zip file is located, showing that the folder is 691 MB but only takes up 11 MB on the disk.
If these values don't match what you're seeing in the third-party programs, then they may not be looking at the Size on disk attribute for the files.
Thanks for your reply.
This is what I see but it appears that all these file size programs are only looking at size attribute and NOT the Size on disk attribute - Unless dropbox can change what's left in those files so these programs only count the size on disk, I'll have to EXCLUDE the dropbox in a filter to determine the real large files that are taking up space on the disk.
Make sense?
