CatherineL Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 My desktop is not showing thumbnails in windows or Bridge at this point and I am getting notifications that my computer is out of memory. So after some searching I found that Dropbox is taking up all of the space. How can I safely remove files from DB and free up space on my PC? I have 3 external HD's connected to my PC. I just tried to copy & paste some folders to a different external hard drive and it said I do not have enough space to copy these items. What can I do at this point? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 You are going to have to turn on "Selective Sync" and not backup the "Dropbox Folder" automatically or create sub-folders in the Dropbox and just backup those. Or manually log into the web interface, and backup each file manually. Can't have your Cake and Eat it too. This is the downside to Cloud Backup, the files in the "Cloud" are synced to ones stored locally. Dropbox and other Cloud Services aren't like having External Hard Drives. Files are in two places at all times. If you delete things locally, MANY Cloud Services will auto-delete the files stored on their servers after a period of 30 days or so. Or you are going to have to replace your internal hard drive with something larger if you want to auto-backup everything. Of course, you will probably need to pay for more Dropbox Storage, since getting a larger hard drive often involves in storing more stuff. (Kinda like Tool Boxes. ) Click the Dropbox icon in your taskbar. Click your avatar (profile picture or initials) in the top-right corner. Click Preferences. Click the Sync tab. Under Selective Sync (Windows), click Modify. Check or uncheck the folders you’d like to save or remove on your hard drive. Click Update. Now if none of this sounds like a good option, I want you to attack that Dropbox Folder and cull-cull-cull. This also includes your online Dropbox Folder. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineL Posted March 15 Author Share Posted March 15 Thank you, I have started to move some nonimportant files over to a external hd. But I keep getting a pop up that says "do you want to continue to move this w/o it's propertie"s or something like that. What does that mean? Thanks so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 The file itself won't be affected, but the Metadata that Dropbox adds will be lost. In addition, if the files that you are copying / moving from the local HD to the External HD, and you are getting this message, is likely due to the External HD being Partitioned with the stupid exFAT Partition Type and not NTFS. Personally, I hate-hate-hate exFAT. Why do I not like exFAT? Because unlike NTFS, or macOS Extended (Journaled), exFAT if you have a system failure or some sort of crash, power outage, or bad un-mount (such as your pet accidentally pulling out the cable to the drive), you could lose your entire volume, with no chance of recovery. If the drive that's created with exFAT goes Ka-Plooey, you are screwed. The reason the Manufacturers use it, is due to that the Macintosh and Windows Systems can read/write to it, so it cuts down on support calls. The chances of Data Recovery with NTFS or the Apple macOS Extended (Journaled,) notice the word Journaled...meaning the OS keeps "Tabs" on your files, are much better than exFAT. Using exFAT is fine for advanced users that know the risks, and have complete duplicates of drives at all times, so that if a drive fails, it's more of a nuisance than anything. It's not for the average person who just puts files on a EHD and then doesn't go further with backups. How do you fix this? You will need a blank, preferably larger EHD, and copy ALL of the files from the existing exFAT Drive. Then you delete that exFAT Partition on the original drive and then create a new NTFS Partition with the Windows Disk Manager. Then you copy all your files back from the temporary EHD. It's actually not that hard to do, and there are wizards you use to accomplish this. How do you figure this stuff out? Right Click on the Start Button and select Disk Management. From there you should see all of your Hard Drives. In the middle you should see a column labeled "File System." Then look down to the various drives that are mounted and you should see either NTFS, exFAT or even FAT32. If there are any drives that are labeled exFAT, you are playing with fire when it comes to your data, and we need to get the Partition Type switched over. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineL Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 All of my older EHD say NTFS, but the one I am currently using says exfat! There's a lot of important stuff on that one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineL Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 I do use Crashplan for a backup So what would be a good, reliable EHD to transfer these files to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineL Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 2 hours ago, CatherineL said: So what would be a good, reliable EHD to transfer these files to? Honestly? I used to recommend beefy G-Drives. But then Sandisk bought them and they aren't as good as they once were. In fact, it seems that Hard Drives all suck across the board today. You MUST backup your backup drives. Plan for them to fail. Seagate Drives I have had the most issues with, in fact...I even had one physically smoke on me. I do like Western Digital's Stuff, but only certain models. I typically avoid "Green" or "Eco-Friendly" Hard Drives as they contain the cheapest parts and only save a little bit of power as compared to a higher quality model. LaCie HDs have crappy Seagate Drives inside them and on-and-on it goes. In reality, there are only a few manufacturers: Seagate, Toshiba, and now Sandisk, because they purchased Western Digital. Fortunately, you seem to have a 2TB Drive for that Elements, so you can purchase something like a 4TB model, which doesn't break the bank if you purchase a traditional spinning HD. Now in 2025, I'm thinking about moving away from the spinning HDs, and going something flash based, like a SSD or m.2 based drive. In fact, I'm at the point of recommending a Western Digital Black Internal Drive, then having my members purchase an Enclosure Case that will convert them into an external HD. This way they can be 100% sure of the drive that is inside the enclosure. I've also recommended getting an Western Digital Black External Gaming Drive. Even though it has "Xbox" or "Playstation" written on the side of the box, as soon as you delete the existing partition and create a NTFS one with Disk Manager, it becomes a normal HD. The "Gaming" stuff really means it doesn't go to sleep during gaming, which sucks when it happens with normal drives. Playing a fast paced online video game only to lag out while your HD wakes up is annoying. I've also used a 1TB version of this Sandisk 4TB, which is sitting on my desk as I type this. SanDisk 4TB Extreme Portable SSD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted March 16 Share Posted March 16 So if you want easy? I'd get the SanDisk 4TB Portable SSD Drive. It also seems to be on sale. Most likely it will come pre-formatted with exFAT, so we will need to clear that first and convert it to NTFS. (Which will give you practice for the WD 2TB Elements Drive.) To convert a drive, it honestly takes like 30 seconds. LOL!! It's not a big deal. Now if money is a problem, you could go lower, say a 2TB Version for $132-ish. I personally would not go any lower in terms of capacity for data storage in 2025. You really want 4TB or larger, IMHO. Let me know when you get your new drive and I will post screenshots telling you what to do. It's really-really-really easy. In fact, you are halfway there, since you now know about Disk Manager! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineL Posted March 18 Author Share Posted March 18 I purchased the SanDisk 4tb. I have it here now. Where do I go from here? Thanks so much! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 OK, first things first. We need to verify how that Sandisk is Partitioned. So attach the drive to your computer and head to Disk Management. (Right Click on the Start Button & you should see it.) From there post a screen shot of the Disk Management Screen, as you did above. I did a Screenshot of mine with my 1TB Sandisk Highlighted. As you can see, my drive is currently set to exFAT, which is what we DO NOT WANT. So post a screenshot so I can see what file system it's on. Note: Don't read too much into my example, as I'm working on a Virtual Machine. Currently my 1TB External Sandisk is configured for a 50GB HD. The steps I'm going to give you are the same, so don't worry. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineL Posted March 19 Author Share Posted March 19 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineL Posted March 19 Author Share Posted March 19 I appreciate you taking the time to help me with this issue 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 OK, this is going to be really easy. That said, IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU ARE ON THE CORRECT EHD! Clicking on the wrong one, and nuking it will be very-very-very BAD!! So make extra sure you are on the correct EHD!! Open the Sandisk SSD Drive and look for anything that seem to be important. Copy it to your desktop if you desire. Next, head back into Disk Management and select the Extreme SSD Drive, just like you did in your screenshot. Now Right click on it and select "Delete Volume." Windows will ask for permission and if you really want to do this. Click OK. When it's done, you should have a black bar across with the word, "Unallocated." Now right-click and select, "New Simple Volume." From there the Wizard should pop up. Click Next. From there put the maximum capacity number in the box. Click Next. From there you can assign a drive letter if you prefer: Or not, and leave it at the default: Click Next. The next screen is the most important one. This is where you get to select the filesystem, NTFS, the Drive Name (i.e. Sandisk SSD 4TB) and MOST IMPORTANTLY, CLICKING THE QUICK-FORMAT CHECKBOX!!! If you don't click that box, you might as well go to bed, because formatting will take HOURS. Oh, in case you are wondering, leave the Allocation Unit Size at the "Default." DO NOT ENABLE Folder Compression. Basically, make the Wizard Box look similar to this: Click Next. A box will appear with all of your choices, confirm things, and click Finish. Wait a few seconds, about 10-15 or so and let your new drive do its thing. When it's done, it should appear in the Disk Manager List as a NTFS Drive, with about the same formatted capacity as before. Exit Disk Manager, Copy (DO NOT USE CUT!) all of the contents of the Western Digital Elements exFAT Drive over to your new fancy 4TB SSD. When you are 110% sure everything is copied over, repeat the steps to nuke the exFAT Elements drive, (Right Click - Delete Volume) and recreate a new NTFS (Right Click - New Simple Volume) Partitition on it. Then copy the files back. The reason that I want you to Copy and NOT Cut/Move, is when you do that, the original file is deleted as it moves your data. If something were to go wonky during the data-transfer, your original files go POOF!!! This will force you to doing some sort of Data-Recovery. If you COPY and PASTE, and things go weird, you simply hit Cancel and try again. Copy & Pasting is MUCH-MUCH-MUCH SAFER!! Got it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineL Posted March 20 Author Share Posted March 20 It's brand new. The only thing on there is a windows/mac security software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 "Meh," I'd delete that shit 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineL Posted March 20 Author Share Posted March 20 Ok, looks like everything transferred over to the new drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineL Posted March 20 Author Share Posted March 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineL Posted March 20 Author Share Posted March 20 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineL Posted March 20 Author Share Posted March 20 Ok, I've configured the old EHD(G) to NTFS as well. I copied everything and pasted it to the Sandisk 4tb drive. I'm still confused about the Dropbox backup. Should I transfer the larger files (PS templates and raw files) to my new 4th drive? Will that free up space on my desktop? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted Thursday at 11:19 AM Share Posted Thursday at 11:19 AM If you don't need them to be backed up to Dropbox, sure. These Cloud programs are not like external drives, they are mirrored files to what is already on your computer stored locally. So move the files like PS Templates and such, over to the new drive if you prefer. They just won't be backed up to Dropbox, unless you tell Dropbox to include this new HD. After about 30 days or so, those files you moved out of the Dropbox folder will be deleted on the Cloud as well. It's this "Auto Backup" that has you confused. Dropbox and Backblaze and all the other Cloud Services operate on having your files stored in two places, on their Servers and stored locally on your computer. As soon as you upload a file to Dropbox, it's going to copy that file into the Dropbox folder on your computer. Regardless if it's on another external HD. I'm thinking you need to purchase storage from Google Drive, or Microsoft's One-Drive or even Amazon S3. You want Cloud Storage without it syncing locally to your computer, in essence, acting like an external HD. Because as soon as you put those Photoshop Templates and such on that new Sandisk External, it's going to by synced right back to the Dropbox Folder on your main hard drive, hogging up space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineL Posted Thursday at 12:12 PM Author Share Posted Thursday at 12:12 PM Right now I am paying $20/mo for Dropbox storage. Which one is the most reliable for storage? I am a photographer and so I have lots of raw files and PS templates for sports. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineL Posted Thursday at 01:20 PM Author Share Posted Thursday at 01:20 PM So I am copying a large amount of templates from DB and moving them to the new HD, but my storage hasn't freed up any space. What else do I need to do or how do I remove them from the HD after moving them from dropbox? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineL Posted Thursday at 01:26 PM Author Share Posted Thursday at 01:26 PM Also, my SD card is listed as exFAT as well. Do I need to switch that as well? I just noticed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted Thursday at 08:15 PM Share Posted Thursday at 08:15 PM The SD Card should be straightforward, ALWAYS FORMAT THE CARD IN CAMERA and never in the computer. If your camera uses exFAT, that’s fine. I’m not a Dropbox User, so you are going to have to poke around in the manuals to turn off Auto Syncing or only auto sync certain folders https://help.dropbox.com/sync/make-files-online-only#:~:text=Click (Dropbox) in your taskbar,or folders that already exist. i also found this tutorial video: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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