Removing files with Selective Sync does not free up hard drive space

When I unsync a file or folder using the Selective Sync option in version 1.2.6, the folder/file disappears from the directory but it still takes up memory on the local hard drive. I checked the Trash to make sure it did not need to be emptied. There are no files in the Trash.

What is the best method for removing a folder from a local hard drive to free up space but keeping it on the Google Drive to sync with other computers?

Thank you for your help.

I’m having the same challenge (Mac 10.10.3 with Selective Sync 1.2.6) @roald - is this an issue your engineers are aware of? Thanks in advance for your help!

I am having the same issue. Moved a folder to google drive and then selectively unsync in insync and the file is not visible but the space is still being taken up on the drive.

I’m pretty sure I’m experiencing the same behaviour on OSX 10.10.3. The file is neither in the system trash nor in the .insync-trash folder. Yet, I’m missing the whole space on my system. Any idea why?

@Jamie_Smith @Dan_Hill @Gregory_Jacobson @PVJ If you already removed it from the .insync-trash, please send us your logs.db and out.txt file to support@insynchq.com. Please include the link of this post.

Thank you for your patience.

Thanks - that did the trick! For future reference, here’s how to find hidden files on OS 10.10.x:

Not experiencing this issue… yet (keeping fingers crossed) but for my knowledge, where is the .insync-trash directory?

Should be in the root of the Google Drive folder you are syncing with Insync

Interesting. I am assuming it gets created when/if you delete anything. As I have not yet, it does not exist on my system.

Has this issue been fixed?

@Gregory_Jacobson We are still working on a fix for this issue. Thank you for your patience.

Just checking in to see if there is a fix yet. This bug is really limiting my use of insync and google drive. Thanks.

@Gregory_Jacobson We have not yet changed this behavior of Insync.

How do you envision a fix? Would it be enough to have an option to disable .insync-trash entirely? Or to manually clear it?

Opps, sorry for the delay. I was taking an internet break for a week on vaca.

Not sure I understand the question. I do not know what “disable .insync-trash entirely” or “manually clear it” means.

I would envision this working similar to the way dropbox does it. If you uncheck the folder, then the folder disappears from your computer, you can continue to access the file(s) in the cloud but the file(s) are removed from your computer and thus the space is cleared from your computer. This is what the warning message says happens when you do this:

“You have unselected some files and folders. They will be removed from this machine, but will remain on your Google Drive.”

But what happened with me is that I can no longer see the file(s) on the machine but the space on my computer is not freed up. The file(s) are also not in my trash so it is not a matter of my simply clearing my trash to free up the space.

I am doing something wrong? As I really can’t imagine any other way this feature would work.

Thanks,
Greg

@Gregory_Jacobson I see, and I understand. No, you’re not doing anything wrong, it’s just that deleted and unsynced files are currently stored for a time in a local cache folder named .insync-trash before getting actually deleted.

I will discuss some possible solutions with the team, including simply deleting selectively-unsynced files directly, and will update this thread. Thank you for the feedback!

I’d love to get an update on this issue. Is it ok just to remove the .insync-trash folders manually?

Thanks,
Luis

@Luis_Arias There’s no problem with removing the .insync-trash folders manually.

Improving the behavior of selective unsyncing is still being discussed internally. I will post in this thread again once it’s confirmed to be included in an upcoming version.

Thank you for the update! Much appreciated!

How do I locate this .insync-trash folder? Just by searching in Finder? I’ve figured out how to show hidden files, thanks!

Thanks @roald - I send the log to support@insychq.com, correct? or am I supposed to delete the log?