Virtual files on Windows take up 100% of their disk space, overfilling the system drive, even when they're not accessed

We just encountered a major issue with virtual files on the Windows desktop client. We have hundreds of gigabytes of files in ownCloud, most of which are never accessed. The Windows system drive filled up because Windows thinks all of those virtual files are online and on the disk, even though they’re not. Virtual files that are not on the local file system shouldn’t use more than a few bytes of disk space… not hundreds of gigabytes. There’s really no point in using virtual files if they’re going to use up 100% of their disk space even when we’re not accessing them.

Poking around more with this and doing a full uninstall and reinstall of the Windows desktop client seems to have freed up all that disk space. We think what happened is that we copied a bunch of files into ownCloud months ago and the virtual file system kept everything local. There’s a hidden “Free up Space” option if you RMB on the ownCloud icon in the explorer sidebar, but no way to automatically do this. Would be great if files could free themselves up after a few weeks of disuse.

This is an item on the roadmap, but it already supports Win Storage Sense:

Thanks… we’ll give Storage Sense a try and see if that avoids this issue in the future.

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