Still no support for Dropbox cache

CCleaner for Windows CCleaner Windows Suggestions
1

Hi,

I still see no support for cleaning the Dropbox cache. The dropbox cache (in <dropbox folder>\.dropbox.cache) can contain gigabytes of old data *and* sensitive information (for the latter: in case you unselect certain sensitive folders in order to prevent syncing them, these folders are still kept in the cache while they are not visible anymore).

This is an old feature request: http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=23689

I'm not sure if the SABnzbd cache is supported in the meantime, if not, this is also a candidate to clean.

2

Do you have the (exact) path(s) where the cache is located?

Are the files/cache at %appdata%\Dropbox\ ?

3

I don't see this folder in either my dropbox folder or its appdata folder.

4

Is it safe for the rest of your community / family ?

Some while ago a relative 300 miles away shared some photos for my wife to see.

Afterwards I wanted to regain my free space, but first I asked and found that I had to be VERY careful in following a specific procedure,

otherwise Dropbox would "synchronise" and wipe out those photos for everyone else as well.

An ill-advised CCleaner action by one user could have international repercussions :o

5

Said folder is only available to ccleaner if you uncheck hide system protected folders and files

That said my folder is empty, there's nothing in it.

6

I have that option set, and still cannot find it. :huh:

7

my guess is the folder is created by accessing the dropbox drive from a non-windows device (I access from WebOS (multiple apps) Linux (ubuntu, mint))

8

I access it occasionally from my phone and I used to access it from 2 different ubuntu computers. Perhaps it's in one of the device-specific directories.

Edit: nope.

9

FYI Guys....I have this within my CCleaner.ini file:

Include1=PATH|C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\Dropbox\cache\|*.*|REMOVESELF
Include2=PATH|C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\Dropbox\shellext\|*.*|REMOVESELF
Include3=PATH|C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\Dropbox\shellext\l\|*.*|REMOVESELF

and another for my actual DROPBOX Folder

Include13=PATH|Q:\DropBox\Dropbox\.dropbox.cache\|*.*|RECURSE

Haven't had any problems

10

Weird, if I manually type it like

F:\Users\LANLABS\Documents\Dropbox\.dropbox.cache

it works, but I don't even see the hidden file (despite having enabled the ability to see hidden files as a defaullt)

Side note: mine is empty.

I will add the following the winapp2.ini

FileKey5=%Documents%\Dropbox\.dropbox.cache|*.*|RECURSE

This will only effect the default location though

11

Not hidden folders

SYSTEM Protected Folders (two different options) Because Dropbox goes as far as to call this a system folder and it probably ties in with offline cababilities of dropbox and it's ability to map itself, I'm going to suggest that this not be cleaned

That said, there's a winapp2 entry that gets a lot of stuff, just not that folder

[Dropbox*]
LangSecRef=3024
DetectFile=%AppData%\Dropbox
Default=False
FileKey1=%AppData%\Dropbox\Cache|*.*|RECURSE
FileKey2=%AppData%\DropBox\Bin|*.log
FileKey3=%AppData%\DropBox|Filecache.db
FileKey4=%AppData%\DropBox|SigStore.db

12

Oh, now I see it! Still empty though

13

Gents,

I don't believe this folder is only created by accessing it from a non-Windows device because of it behavior (although I use DB on Windows, Ubuntu and Android): if I have 'Chrome 15.exe' in a DB folder, and I upload 'Chrome 16.exe' and remove 'Chrome 15.exe', then the latter file is put into my cache folder with a '(deleted <GUID>)' extension. The cache folder is only visible when having unchecked 'Hide protected OS files', however, there is always a possibility to just jump into that folder by typing it in Explorer or via the 'Run' dialog.

So if you remove files then the old files are kept in the cache. Another example is when you manually select which folders to sync. On one computer I had - by default - all folders synced. Then for security reasons on this portable netbook I decided to uncheck syncing my Documents folder. In DB the Documents folder was gone, but *all* my Documents were still present in the cache!

Having the 'Hide protected OS files' option unchecked does not show this folder in CCleaner. That would also a bit weird IMHO, since CCleaner is able to find other folders that are hidden (e.g. TB/Chrome profiles in AppData which are by default hidden).

So it would be nice if CCleaner is able to find the DB cache folder itself. Perhaps by default unchecked but at least listed so I can easily enable cleaning the DB cache.

There is a snag though; the DB user is able to manually define the DB folder, as a result the .dropbox.cache moves accordingly. So it's not always in %APPDATA%\Dropbox. For example I have defined my dropbox folders on all computers on D:\Users\<USERNAME>\Dropbox. This location will be recorded somewhere but a quick scan through my registry did not reveal the location.

If there are still doubts if it is safe to remove the DB cache folder then please read this thread: http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=140. Note that several ppl announced their folder is over 100 *Gb* ...