The mac in comparison is using about 40gb. Mind you the Dropbox total size is somewhere around 470gb. So this is still very strange behaviour that Mac needs to store so much. Now my issue comes similar when I deleted Dropbox off my Mac, storage still showed that 40gb being used in my Documents and data. It will show you more info, as to what's taking up space in your Dropbox account. In order for you to view the size of a file, or folder using the Website, you would need to access your Home page first. Then under All Files you should be able to see some columns on top. Next on the Modified column, there should be a downwards arrow. Choose Apple menu About This Mac, then click Storage. Each segment of the bar is an estimate of the storage space used by a category of files. Move your pointer over each segment for more detail. Click the Manage button to open the Storage Management window, pictured below. On Mac: 1) Open 'Activity Monitor' from your Applications Utilities folder (or find and open it using Spotlight). 2) Select 'Dropbox' from the list of running applications and click 'Quit Process' under the red stop sign. 3) Repeat this if necessary until Dropbox is no longer displayed in the list.
The Dropbox desktop app tries to be as efficient as possible. However, it will occasionally use more memory (RAM) or CPU than expected. This can lead to a slow-down with some functions on your computer, or generally cause your computer to run slowly.
What factors cause high memory (RAM) usage?
Dropbox Spaces 2.0
There are several factors that can cause higher than expected memory (RAM) usage, including the number of files stored in your Dropbox folder. The more files you have in your Dropbox folder, the more memory Dropbox will need to keep track of them.
What factors cause high CPU usage?
It's normal for there to be multiple Dropbox processes running at the same time. If you see multiple Dropbox processes in the Activity Monitor (Mac) or Task Manager (Windows), you should let them run. They may be helping the main desktop app or other Dropbox features. They also look for version updates and monitor for system crashes.
If you’re seeing higher than expected CPU usage for the Dropbox desktop app, there can be a few possible explanations. Please check each of the following:
1) The desktop app is syncing a large number of files
The desktop app may cause high CPU usage if there are a large number of files to sync. This is especially true the first time files on your computer have been synced.
2) External factors (or third-party apps) are conflicting with Dropbox
Some third-party apps access files in your Dropbox folder. Dropbox may interpret this access as edits to the files, and sync these perceived changes. If a third-party app continually requests access to your files, Dropbox will continue to sync, which will in turn lead to high CPU usage.
This loop usually occurs with third-party syncing apps, backup apps, and anti-virus or security software, or when a third-party app is installed within the Dropbox folder.
To isolate a third-party app as the cause of high CPU usage, temporarily disable each third-party app in the Activity Monitor (Mac) or Task Manager (Windows), and then see if CPU usage for Dropbox decreases.
3) Files in the Dropbox folder have incorrect file permissions
If files in your Dropbox folder have incorrectly set permissions, then the Dropbox app will continually try—and fail—to sync them.
4) There are a large number of files in your Dropbox folder
Performance of the Dropbox desktop app starts to decrease at around 300,000 files. You can improve performance and sync speed with selective sync.
5) The Dropbox folder is installed on a NAS device
The Dropbox folder should not be installed on a NAS device because our desktop app is not meant to work with network share file systems.
To resolve this issue, move your Dropbox folder back to a physically connected drive. Or, follow special steps to correctly use Dropbox with an external drive.
6) Your file system doesn’t support extended attributes
Uninstall Dropbox On Mac
Our desktop app requires that you install the Dropbox data folder on a drive with a file system that supports extended attributes. If installed elsewhere, the app will continually try—and fail—to sync your files. This process causes high CPU use.
To solve, move your Dropbox folder to a hard drive or partition with a supported file system.
7) Symlinks are causing issues
If you know you have symlinks in your Dropbox folder, remove them to improve the performance of the Dropbox desktop app. Symlinks refer to data in locations outside of the Dropbox folder, so the Dropbox desktop app can get stuck attempting to access them.
Note: In some cases, the Dropbox desktop application may sync just the symlink file itself and not the actual files or folders which it references.
If you're not sure if you have symlinks in your Dropbox folder, use the steps below to generate a list of any that exist. This list shows you the full file path to every symlink and where the symlink points to outside of the Dropbox folder.
In general, we recommend that you move actual data (your files and folders) into the Dropbox folder, and then create a symlink where the data was previously located. That way the symlink is outside of the Dropbox folder and the actual data will sync in your Dropbox. In this arrangement, you'll still be able to access the data at a location outside of the Dropbox folder in addition to in your Dropbox.
Find your operating system below for more instructions:
Linux and macOS
- Open your Terminal app located at /Applications/Utilities/Terminal. (Or, open your preferred command line input on Linux.)
- Copy and paste the command line below and press Enter on your keyboard.
find ~/Dropbox -type l -exec ls -lah {} ;
Windows
- Press the Windows + R keys (at the same time) on your keyboard.
- Type cmd and press Enter on your keyboard to open the command prompt.
- Copy and paste the command line below and press Enter on your keyboard.
dir '%HOMEPATH%Dropbox' /a:l /s
By default, the Dropbox folder is located in ~/Dropbox. If you have a Dropbox Business account, the default location for the business Dropbox folder is ~/Dropbox {team name}. To search the business Dropbox folder you should replace ~/Dropbox with the full pathway to the Dropbox folder within quotation marks. You should do the same if you moved the Dropbox folder to a location other than the default location. See the following example pathway:
find 'users/Michael/Documents/Dropbox (Enterprise)' -type l -exec ls -lah {} ;
| Click here to return to the 'Recover disk space used by hidden Dropbox files' hint |
I keep a symlink to the Dropbox cache folder handy. It serves as a reminder to check the folder's contents, and facilitates access to them.
The .dropbox.cache folder keeps a backup of the latest modified files, to enable you to recover a previous version of changed files.
It is updated daily, so usually you don't need to clean this folder: in the worst case the space-eating files will be deleted after two days.
au contraire, mon frere...
auntie@bratbox:.dropbox.cache $ ls -gSh
total 167296
-rw-r--r-- 1 staff 25M Mar 18 2010 dropbox-darwin-update-0.7.110.tar.bz2
-rw-r--r-- 1 staff 4.0M Feb 2 21:40 4uIMgiA5YwVUuXjwCLQ57x_7CPmQul9tLWoEmw3XLZA
-rw-r--r-- 1 staff 4.0M Feb 9 16:26 bT4CnZRipt8B5APST1YpGdbdf3ac8sbvIaVg0JkF_78
-rw-r--r-- 1 staff 4.0M Feb 17 09:54 QqEAxWspbEfj5IL61huTxZPGE-AXW8CmbuUo-3dNzRI
-rw-r--r-- 1 staff 4.0M Feb 9 16:26 rX5ONHIIqNVyTPDMjjItc5ly5tX2AlgFNetsMrD6fys
It saves files for there days, but I have seen - as the other poster points out - files that sometimes don't get deleted.
I realized this, as I said in the hint, one day when there was 8 GB in that folder, and there was almost no disk space on my MacBook Air. On my desktop Mac, this wouldn't be a problem, as there's plenty of disk space.
Mac OS X Hints editor - Macworld senior contributor
http://www.mcelhearn.com
Dropbox Space Increase
The first place I looked for .dropbox.cache was in my home directory. There is a .dropbox directory in there with a configuration files and keys and so on, and even a file called filecache.dbx.
This hint is referring to the .dropbox,cache directory in the top level of your Dropbox.
Dropbox On Mac Taking Up Space Without
I wonder if this accomplishes the same thing as going to the Dropbox website periodically and clicking the trashcan icon to display hidden files. Then it's simple to permanently delete items. Otherwise, Dropbox just flags them for deletion and hides them, but they're still there taking up space which is synced to the Mac.