When Dropbox Spawns a Million Folders
The two numbers at the end of that path are the file and folder count for this folder. That “Base.lproj” folder has no files in it, but 1 million subfolders. That’s absolutely bonkers! That really can’t be sane. The app, MenuClock (not the real name), looks like it’s just a simple digital clock, so it really shouldn’t have many items in that folder at all.
I offered my best guess: I suspected that some conflict arose in that application’s bundle specific to Dropbox, and Dropbox ran amok, creating lots of folders (perhaps remotely, then locally, like an echo chamber).
Finder had trouble emptying the trash with so many files, and the customer had to do this separately on each Mac connected to the Dropbox account.
We never did determine the exact underlying cause for the propagation of folders in that application bundle, but the reappearance of the item on various devices after removing it elsewhere suggested that the cloud-syncing software was likely (errantly) recreating the application and its subfolders. With a lot of persistence, John was finally able to eradicate them.
Previously:
- SuperDuper 4.0 Beta
- Folders With High File Counts
- Stuck When Upgrading Directly From macOS Mojave to Big Sur
