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The Coming Dropbox Apocalypse

17 points by betageek 13y ago

sosuke 13y ago
Using dropbox like a code version control system caused problems? I'm not surprised at all. Use the right tool for the job.
- jonahx 13y ago
  I read it as the files were a result of his normal web development. I'd assume he also uses git and the two things are orthogonal problems.
  - eli 13y ago
    Sure, but if the .git directory is part of the folder in Dropbox (which is not a good idea anyway, btw) then git's internal data files are probably responsible for a huge number of those files.
- korg250 13y ago
  My 8-people small company has 117k files using 110GB of space of Dropbox - 90% of word/excel/image files. Shouldn't I be worried if they will fix this issue in the near future?
Angostura 13y ago
> Is 300,000 files really “unusually large” these days? Yes, I suspect popping 300,000 in your dropbox really is unusual. It would be interesting to see a distribution curve of number of files that people put in there.
- bambax 13y ago
  63 GB in 170 000 files. I had no idea there was a "limit" of 300 000 files.
bkanber 13y ago
If Dropbox has acknowledged the problem and they're working to fix it, I don't really see the problem here. It's impossible to make perfect software, and it's probably true that not too many people have >300k files (I only have 30k in mine), so I can see why this isn't at the top of their list.
- jamestomasino 13y ago
  Agreed. I don't agree with his conclusion that this will only get worse with time. It seems to be a very limited problem they're already addressing.
- danaw 13y ago
  Dropbox has know about it for quite some time. I complained about the same issue over a year and a half ago and I regularly have to kill Dropbox. Obviously they are some tough technological problems, but that's only an excuse for so long.
- samspenc 13y ago
  The "problem" is they're trying to sync 300,000 nodes from client to server and do this constantly - not fun.
rdez6173 13y ago
So, dropbox hasn't optimized for what they consider a corner case. I hardly think this warrants the sensationalized, apocalyptic, headline. Should they address this issue? Yes, and it sounds like it's on their radar. Do we need to sharpen our pitchforks? Not likely.
- sp332 13y ago
  I think the business tier could reasonably have a problem with it right now. That's a lot of storage, and having 300,000 files might not be a "corner case".
  - stayoffliner 13y ago
    I can think of many other ways there may well be a coming Dropbox Apocalypse. Lets see: OS vendors wake up from their slumber, and start putting the OS back where it needs to be: beyond Web 2.0. Fact is kiddies, dropbox and the like are a hacky solution to a problem that should have been solved, properly, decades ago .. if only the OS vendors had not sold their souls, rested on their laurels, etc. Another apocalypse: someone targets Dropbox and does the big `rm -rf /* ´ .. its not impossible, although like most Apocalypses, not likely to be a problem until it happens.
  - MetaCosm 13y ago
    It is a known issue in that tier, and that tier is DAMNED pricey. Normally, I would make a snarky comment about Python, but it is early.
netcraft 13y ago
OT, but "I’ve got a folder with 20 node projects that contains over 100,000 files." - seriously? I'm haven't played much with node - is 5000 files in a project normal?
- apidoc 13y ago
  Yes thats not much. Node modules use other modules, that mean you have many many files. For my small apidoc-Tool (apidocjs.com) i have over 2.000 Files, the project itself has only 50 Files ;-) Another node project (only a small API-Server) has 20.000 files.
progx 13y ago
I think your main problem is the misunderstanding of dropbox. Dropbox was developed for a simple share of few files between different devices or with different people. It is not a mass file backup system. But many people use it exactly that way. And it is definitely not a code repository. I prefer bitbucket for private repos. Fast and easy.
- alistairjcbrown 13y ago
  > It is not a mass file backup system. You say that, but then why do they sell personal plans for 100, 200 or 500Gb storage? That sounds like it's targeted for mass file backup to me.
  - progx 13y ago
    Yes for big files your are right.
- achy 13y ago
  It's definitely not a source control replacement, but I think dropbox themselves have been pushing their service as a cloud backup solution for quite some time. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that you are able to use up the space allotted (or payed for) however you may choose.
herbig 13y ago
Yeah guy, I'd look into something like github. The best thing to come out of this article was learning the term Dropboxen.
exodust 13y ago
Points for the click bait headline, but no substance to the article. Something about "300,000 files broke my dropbox". Not an issue for 99.999% of normal people with less than 300,000 files on their whole computer never-mind their cloud storage.
- Fourplealis 13y ago
  Except, those 0.001% of users are responsible for very big chunk of DropBox's revenue.
  - korg250 13y ago
    Source?
nextw33k 13y ago
To be fair on Dropbox the issue is more than likely to do with the file system watchers. The initial indexing of 300,000 files is going to take some time on a standard desktop PC, then you have to ask the OS to let you know of any changes on those files.

17 points by betageek 13y ago

Using dropbox like a code version control system caused problems? I'm not surprised at all. Use the right tool for the job.

jonahx 13y ago
I read it as the files were a result of his normal web development. I'd assume he also uses git and the two things are orthogonal problems.
- eli 13y ago
  Sure, but if the .git directory is part of the folder in Dropbox (which is not a good idea anyway, btw) then git's internal data files are probably responsible for a huge number of those files.
korg250 13y ago
My 8-people small company has 117k files using 110GB of space of Dropbox - 90% of word/excel/image files. Shouldn't I be worried if they will fix this issue in the near future?

Angostura 13y ago

> Is 300,000 files really “unusually large” these days? Yes, I suspect popping 300,000 in your dropbox really is unusual. It would be interesting to see a distribution curve of number of files that people put in there.

bambax 13y ago
63 GB in 170 000 files. I had no idea there was a "limit" of 300 000 files.

bkanber 13y ago

If Dropbox has acknowledged the problem and they're working to fix it, I don't really see the problem here. It's impossible to make perfect software, and it's probably true that not too many people have >300k files (I only have 30k in mine), so I can see why this isn't at the top of their list.

jamestomasino 13y ago
Agreed. I don't agree with his conclusion that this will only get worse with time. It seems to be a very limited problem they're already addressing.
danaw 13y ago
Dropbox has know about it for quite some time. I complained about the same issue over a year and a half ago and I regularly have to kill Dropbox. Obviously they are some tough technological problems, but that's only an excuse for so long.
samspenc 13y ago
The "problem" is they're trying to sync 300,000 nodes from client to server and do this constantly - not fun.

rdez6173 13y ago

So, dropbox hasn't optimized for what they consider a corner case. I hardly think this warrants the sensationalized, apocalyptic, headline. Should they address this issue? Yes, and it sounds like it's on their radar. Do we need to sharpen our pitchforks? Not likely.

sp332 13y ago
I think the business tier could reasonably have a problem with it right now. That's a lot of storage, and having 300,000 files might not be a "corner case".
- stayoffliner 13y ago
  I can think of many other ways there may well be a coming Dropbox Apocalypse. Lets see: OS vendors wake up from their slumber, and start putting the OS back where it needs to be: beyond Web 2.0. Fact is kiddies, dropbox and the like are a hacky solution to a problem that should have been solved, properly, decades ago .. if only the OS vendors had not sold their souls, rested on their laurels, etc. Another apocalypse: someone targets Dropbox and does the big `rm -rf /* ´ .. its not impossible, although like most Apocalypses, not likely to be a problem until it happens.
- MetaCosm 13y ago
  It is a known issue in that tier, and that tier is DAMNED pricey. Normally, I would make a snarky comment about Python, but it is early.

netcraft 13y ago

OT, but "I’ve got a folder with 20 node projects that contains over 100,000 files." - seriously? I'm haven't played much with node - is 5000 files in a project normal?

apidoc 13y ago
Yes thats not much. Node modules use other modules, that mean you have many many files. For my small apidoc-Tool (apidocjs.com) i have over 2.000 Files, the project itself has only 50 Files ;-) Another node project (only a small API-Server) has 20.000 files.

progx 13y ago

I think your main problem is the misunderstanding of dropbox. Dropbox was developed for a simple share of few files between different devices or with different people. It is not a mass file backup system. But many people use it exactly that way. And it is definitely not a code repository. I prefer bitbucket for private repos. Fast and easy.

alistairjcbrown 13y ago
> It is not a mass file backup system. You say that, but then why do they sell personal plans for 100, 200 or 500Gb storage? That sounds like it's targeted for mass file backup to me.
- progx 13y ago
  Yes for big files your are right.
achy 13y ago
It's definitely not a source control replacement, but I think dropbox themselves have been pushing their service as a cloud backup solution for quite some time. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that you are able to use up the space allotted (or payed for) however you may choose.

herbig 13y ago

Yeah guy, I'd look into something like github. The best thing to come out of this article was learning the term Dropboxen.

exodust 13y ago

Points for the click bait headline, but no substance to the article. Something about "300,000 files broke my dropbox". Not an issue for 99.999% of normal people with less than 300,000 files on their whole computer never-mind their cloud storage.

Fourplealis 13y ago
Except, those 0.001% of users are responsible for very big chunk of DropBox's revenue.
- korg250 13y ago
  Source?

nextw33k 13y ago

To be fair on Dropbox the issue is more than likely to do with the file system watchers. The initial indexing of 300,000 files is going to take some time on a standard desktop PC, then you have to ask the OS to let you know of any changes on those files.