I have over 4 tb total stored in my multiple drive accounts. If I sync these with odrive it’ll obviously fill up my laptop. Dropbox, and even box have functions for “online only” which i assume make reference folders on my computer and only download the files when I need them.
Is there any way to do that with odrive? Or does it download all the files associated to all accounts listed as “sync” locally?
Hi @gvitale,
odrive starts off, by default, with all placeholder files (.cloud/.cloudf). Placeholder files are files that take up no space locally, but allow you to visualize what you have remotely. This means you can browse all of your remote storage without downloading anything, if you want. You can then selectively download the files you need, when you need them.
that sounds like great news.
Just to confirm, it’ll only download what i need when i need then once I close that file it’ll go back to a placeholder file? assuming i dont move it or whatever?
Hi @gvitale,
The files you have chosen to sync (download), will stay downloaded until they are unsynced (either manually or automatically).
You can learn more about placeholders here: https://docs.odrive.com/docs/sync-your-odrive#section--placeholder-folders-
You can learn more about unsync here: https://docs.odrive.com/docs/manage-disk-space#section-unsync-old-files
Hi Tony
I’m just testing out Odrive. Are you planning to enhance the “sync”/“unsync” option in the near future? The problem with it is, that when you unsync a folder, the files and subfolders in that folder disappear. This leads to the problem, that applications which require that files (for example images used in Lightroom) throw errors as the files can’t be located. Furthermore, when syncing but not downloading the content of a folder, the problem persists as the file names are different (*.cloud).
The offline-file feature, should in my opinion (and how it is with Dropbox or ExpanDrive), always show the complete folder/file structure. The files that are “online-only” should be marked with a cloud icon, and the others which are local, with a check icon.
Are you planning to do something like that in the future?
Besides, Odrive is pretty cool :).
Thank you and best wishes, Stefan
Hi @szahnd,
Thanks for reaching out.
The functionality you are describing will likely not be added to the current incarnation of odrive, since the engine is fundamentally tied to the current placeholder paradigm.
There are things in the R&D phase, however, that are using different technology to provide an experience you are talking about, where the files are “virtualized” in more of a seamless way, similar to Dropbox’s “Smart Sync” feature.