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Forum Discussion
Can I delete the cache folder to free up space?
On a Mac regardless of the OS, there is 3 folders, ie. Hidden, Prefetch_Cache, Temp_Hidden, and these folders appear automatically regardless if the user has a Personal or Business account.
1. Can a user delete these folders, again, regardless of the account type, without deleting any files/folders on the Dropbox servers?
2. Do these folders get recreated locally on the Mac?
3. Does the Dropbox cache have anything to do with the overall space on the Mac?
- Rich
Super User II
1) Correct. The cache folder is used to hold the files that are syncing as well as a copy of files deleted on other devices (for approximately three days, more on that in a bit*). If you delete the content while it's downloading, it will just start the download over from the beginning.
2) The folders get recreated as needed by the software. That's all we really (need to) know.
3) Yes. The files in the cache folder exist on your HD so they take up space on your HD. This is important to understand, especially in the case of files deleted elsewhere (see below).
* One of the purposes of the cache folder is to store files that have been deleted on other devices or the website. You delete a file on one device and that gets synced to the cloud. Your other devices are told to delete the file and they move it to cache instead. Approximately three days later the file is removed from cache. This is done to aid in the quick recovery of a file in the case of an accidental deletion.
- Rich
Thanks for the reply. I have looked at that article already which prompted the questions. Just to be clear on the 3 questions.
1. By deleting the local Dropbox cache this will not affect the files/folders on the Dropbox servers?
2. Those 3 folders get recreate when syncing is involved between local cache and Dropbox servers?
3. On the Mac, when a user looks at how much HD space is USED, the Dropbox cache plays a part in the space being USED?
