EN 10.58.3-win running out of storage space

[janndk 506]

Since update to 10.58.3-win Evernote began to be quite unhappy with the storage space available.

Everytime Evernote starts, it pops out a message telling that storage space for local EN content is about to run out.

I have about 15 GB free space on my main drive (and about 500 GB free space on extra drive)

Anybody having an idea what's happening?

[PinkElephant 8,142]

Read the release notes. One of the features is a „short of memory“ warning for the drive on which the EN install is located. 15GB sounds like a lot, but with all the caching and swapping all modern OS are doing, it’s close to nothing.

Probably the best fix would be to move the EN database to another drive, using a symlink to connect it to the app.

[janndk 506]

20 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

Read the release notes. One of the features is a „short of memory“ warning for the drive on which the EN install is located. 15GB sounds like a lot, but with all the caching and swapping all modern OS are doing, it’s close to nothing.

Probably the best fix would be to move the EN database to another drive, using a symlink to connect it to the app.

Ah yes, thanks 👍 I remember seeing something about that in release notes. Yes, I read them - but obviously not thoroughly enough 🫢😁

My notes are usually very short and without any bigger file attachment, so they shouldn't take too much space. Any idea how much free space is needed to get rid of this message? Seems not possible to disable it?

[gazumped 11,685]

Sounds like Evernote might have done you a favour - as @PinkElephant notes,  15GB is relative peanuts in terms of space - both Windows and Mac devices say they need between 10-20% free space for optimum performance.  Unless you have very limited storage,  15GB isn't enough!

[eric99 982]

7 minutes ago, gazumped said:

Sounds like Evernote might have done you a favour - as @PinkElephant notes,  15GB is relative peanuts in terms of space - both Windows and Mac devices say they need between 10-20% free space for optimum performance.  Unless you have very limited storage,  15GB isn't enough!

Also, running with minimal SSD space can drastically shorten its lifespan

[PinkElephant 8,142]

Just a hypothesis: Maybe one or the root causes of the data loss cases that were reported here was low free storage on the installation drive. So there is a warning released to tell users they need to do something about it.

Plus what @eric99 just posted. If the computer has the SSD soldered onto the mainboard, a wasted SSD is an economical full damage, even if it could be repaired on chip level. To get rid of the warning I would move the EN database off the primary drive. But it won’t cure the basic underlying problem of the maxed out drive.

[Gazebo 42]

This is mad. EN used to be usable on lower spec computers AND be much faster on all devices.

It's becoming less Green Elephant, more White Elephant. I no longer use it for notes on the move, and have moved overto Onenote as its stable on phones and tablets, and am gradually reaching a point where I think I may drop EN altogether.

Sad, as if it was as it was in 2015 it would still be my preferred notes app.

[PinkElephant 8,142]

It’s not mad - if it is a cause of data loss (assumption) be happy when getting a warning.

For low specced devices there is always the web client. I even use it on a Raspberry Pi to access code I have stored in my account. Works fine, because the main computing and all storage is done on the server.

[janndk 506]

1 hour ago, gazumped said:

Sounds like Evernote might have done you a favour - as @PinkElephant notes,  15GB is relative peanuts in terms of space - both Windows and Mac devices say they need between 10-20% free space for optimum performance.  Unless you have very limited storage,  15GB isn't enough!

You are probably right. 🤔😁

However, the next few days are maybe my final days as an Evernote user (subscriptions ends next week), so i think i will leave the content database where it is and just click the message away every time it appears.

10.58.3 finally fixed the pdf-export problems after a couple of months waiting  (pdf export is essential for my workflow!). Great news! So, i'm doing some testing and trying to convince myself to stay with Evernote.

[janndk 506]

2 hours ago, Gazebo said:

This is mad. EN used to be usable on lower spec computers AND be much faster on all devices.

It's becoming less Green Elephant, more White Elephant. I no longer use it for notes on the move, and have moved overto Onenote as its stable on phones and tablets, and am gradually reaching a point where I think I may drop EN altogether.

Sad, as if it was as it was in 2015 it would still be my preferred notes app.

Evernote sure has become quite demanding. Some time ago i had to buy a new phone just to be able to use Evernote android app (no challenges with any other apps). And now it seems i have to fix something in my computer (no challenges with any other apps) 😕

But maybe it's good to be forced to clean up my drive. Should probaly have done that already long time ago 🤔🤭😆

PS. I'm also exploring Onenote as a replacement for Evernote!

[s2sailor 2,215]

32 minutes ago, janndk said:

Evernote sure has become quite demanding. Some time ago i had to buy a new phone just to be able to use Evernote android app (no challenges with any other apps). And now it seems i have to fix something in my computer (no challenges with any other apps) 😕

Well, Evernote isn’t alone here.  It is just the state of advancing hardware and software technology, though it is surprising that a note app is pushing the envelope.  I don’t think fixing is the right word, maybe improving is better.  I’ve never bought a new phone (or a  PC or Mac now that I think about it) because the old one was broken.  At some point it just starts to feel sluggish overall and I feel that it’s time for an upgrade.

 Evernote did push me to upgrade once but that was back in the V3? days.  Performance was horrendous.  Far worse than anything I’ve experienced in recent years.  I decided to replace my HDD with a solid state drive, my first SSD.  It fixed Evernote and everything else.  I didn’t want to upgrade but it was certainly worthwhile.  Improving camera technology recently encouraged me to upgrade my Mac.  That improved my photo and video editing experience, and overall computing experience as well.

 Consider Evernote‘s early warning helpful in this case.  It you are able to increase your system storage, you will likely see some improvement overall.

[gazumped 11,685]

43 minutes ago, s2sailor said:

it is surprising that a note app is pushing the envelope

The note app isn't pushing anything - seems like most users are.  It is generic IT advice that once your hard drive is 80% full,  you should consider it in need of care and attention,  because modern computers and most local and online softwares need considerable headroom for temporary files and routine housekeeping.  Evernote seems no more greedy for memory and storage than my browser - probably for obvious reasons.

Doing a Google search to confirm - I got 1.5 billion hits on that question (other search engines are available) of which this is representative:   https://superuser.com/questions/1256074/how-much-space-to-leave-free-on-hdd-or-ssd (plus I liked the 'pants on fire' reference).

If you're seeing the Evernote space warning,  it doesn't mean the app is unreasonably greedy,  it just means you're running your local storage on - or probably past - the point where you get any sort of reliable performance from the hardware.  You're handicapping not just Evernote,  but also most other applications that you run.  And it's astonishing that so few here seem to be aware of the problem.

My local 1TB drive has nearly 300GB free and that's maybe why I see so few issues compared to other Windows users - maybe Evernote realised that a lot of user complaints were about self-inflicted issues,  and wanted to help avoid that situation where possible.  I have lots of external storage locally and online.

But going back to the original query and without picking on @janndk particularly..  15GB free space would be fine on a 75-100GB drive.  Since I assume there's much more storage than that,  it might be wise to invest in fireproof seating - or one of those external drive thingies.

[s2sailor 2,215]

I completely agree that 15GB free is likely inadequate for most systems now, but it is still surprising to me that Evernote is the app to raise the warning.

[eric99 982]

35 minutes ago, gazumped said:

My local 1TB drive has nearly 300GB free and that's maybe why I see so few issues compared to other Windows users - maybe Evernote realised that a lot of user complaints were about self-inflicted issues,  and wanted to help avoid that situation where possible.

If they really want to help avoid that situation, they could provide a configurable database location to another drive if needed (like it always was in legacy)

[PinkElephant 8,142]

Anybody can move the database elsewhere, its takes a minute to Google it, and a little more to implement it.

But it is still inconvenient, eben more so on a laptop where you then need to carry yet another gadget with you holding the database. So just buy enough storage, you will need it more urgent sooner than expected than the money you keep in your pocket by saving.

You can't eat money, and you can't write data on it.

[gazumped 11,685]

1 minute ago, eric99 said:

a configurable database location to another drive

Don't know if anyone has suggested that to them directly or posted a feature request - maybe they don't realise it's needed? -Not to mention that offering an option to move the database elsewhere doesn't tell users that they're setting themselves up for a fail if they install the app with so little disk space,  AND it ignores the fact that the database is irrelevant in this context - I have a 30GB database.  If saving that much space gets the drive back to 15% free,  it's less than 200GB in total.  You're likely still in trouble.

20 minutes ago, s2sailor said:

it is still surprising to me that Evernote is the app to raise the warning

They are the only ones with the foresight to inform their users about the limitations of the local device...

[Dave-in-Decatur 3,969]

15 minutes ago, gazumped said:

Don't know if anyone has suggested that to them directly or posted a feature request - maybe they don't realise it's needed?

At least 2 threads in the Windows desktop feature request forum:

 

 

[s2sailor 2,215]

40 minutes ago, gazumped said:

They are the only ones with the foresight to inform their users about the limitations of the local device...

That's one interpretation 😀.

[Jon/t 1,302]

I think its a good idea to warn folk about low disk storage. I've not used legacy in a loooooong time but I think it relied on the operating system warnings.

Maybe its a way to reduce support tickets. EG... Waaahhhh... Its not saving my notes... after 3 days and 100 support emails we find there's 5kb left on the hard drive 😂

If you think 15GB is the wrong limit let support know and if enough folk think the same they may change said limit.

[janndk 506]

37 minutes ago, Jon/t said:

I think its a good idea to warn folk about low disk storage. I've not used legacy in a loooooong time but I think it relied on the operating system warnings.

Maybe its a way to reduce support tickets. EG... Waaahhhh... Its not saving my notes... after 3 days and 100 support emails we find there's 5kb left on the hard drive 😂

If you think 15GB is the wrong limit let support know and if enough folk think the same they may change said limit.

I don't know what the right limit is. Just surprised when Evernote suddenly tells me that there is almost no storage space (when there still is 15 GB left).

@gazumped seems to have some inside information: limit is now when 80% of storage is full?

Anyway, I can't find settings to change the location.
 

"There is almost no more storage space

It looks like the disk of your local Evernote data is almost full. Please delete some files to make space or select a new location for your Evernote data in the application settings.

Open settings to switch  |  OK"
 

[PinkElephant 8,142]

80% was the value for HDDs - its when the system has more and more difficulties to find the next unoccupied sector, which leads to fragmentation and rising access time. This is especially important in RAID configurations.

For SSDs the limit is higher, given the usual reservation of maybe 10% of the cells as spares. There is not the „find the next free sector“ problem, because memory can be accessed at random.

But by all means, 15 GB is nothing, given the fact that all modern OS are using the SSD for swapping from RAM. 

[Jon/t 1,302]

@janndk I asked the question as interested myself and the warning should appear when you're down to 5% free space left on the drive containing Evernote.

[PinkElephant 8,142]

Yes, makes sense. I have 2TB, and roughly 100GB of free disk space. MacOS is managing storage via iCloud, so it dynamically moves content off to make everything nice and comfy, while keeping a maximum of my files local.

Only 1 app is nagging about disk space: EN 😂

[Alexander Seidl 6]

The evernote message says

Quote

The disk with your local Evernote data is almost full. Please delete some files to make room or set a new location for your Evernote data in the application settings.

The question is: How can i set a new location für my evernote data?

[PinkElephant 8,142]

The message came before the cure was ready. EN staff told they will have the „Move Database“ option in settings released in a (near) future update.

For now (if it is urgent) you can move the database location using a symlink (symbolic link). Just google it for advise.

[rockstream 0]

I am running EN on a Mac, have a 1TB drive, and 125GB of storage available. I am getting the warning message. Should I be getting it? I think 125GB is plenty of available storage not sure why I would be getting a warning

[gazumped 11,685]

23 minutes ago, rockstream said:

I am running EN on a Mac, have a 1TB drive, and 125GB of storage available. I am getting the warning message. Should I be getting it? I think 125GB is plenty of available storage not sure why I would be getting a warning

Unless I moved the decimal point too far that means you have 12.5% space free.  See comments above...

[PinkElephant 8,142]

From an EN staff posting in another thread, I assume there is a wrong calculation used by the Mac client.

Plus (as I pointed out already) MacOS can be told to manage content between local storage and iCloud. On these Macs I don‘t think available space can be calculated at all - the available space is much larger than the free space, and dynamically allocated.

[burntdownhouse 0]

I'm also getting this on a fairly new MBP - with over a 150 gb free on the drive.

 

[GlennFleishman 0]

Same here: just started happening. I have 150 GB free on my Mac mini. Never received this error before the latest update.

[agsteele 2,952]

The warning is a new function in the latest desktop apps. It is only a warning. But you should explore how much free disk space you have on the primary disk partition as a proportion of the total size of the primary partition.

[Paul B. 6]

On 6/22/2023 at 6:54 PM, PinkElephant said:

From an EN staff posting in another thread, I assume there is a wrong calculation used by the Mac client.

Plus (as I pointed out already) MacOS can be told to manage content between local storage and iCloud. On these Macs I don‘t think available space can be calculated at all - the available space is much larger than the free space, and dynamically allocated.

Exactly. MacOS is managing how full my disk really is (meaning, keeping as much iCloud stuff as it can on the local drive, making it offline available.)

So, this warning message is meaningless and irrelevant. Surely, we should be able to switch off this warning on MacOS? Please?

 

[janndk 506]

15 minutes ago, Paul B. said:

Exactly. MacOS is managing how full my disk really is (meaning, keeping as much iCloud stuff as it can on the local drive, making it offline available.)

So, this warning message is meaningless and irrelevant. Surely, we should be able to switch off this warning on MacOS? Please?

 

At least they should stop referring to settings that aren't there 🤨

[gazumped 11,685]

3 hours ago, janndk said:

At least they should stop referring to settings that aren't there

?? They're giving a warning for those of us who don't use Macs - and presumably for those Mac users who don't have/ use iCloud.  Seems fairly innocuous to me.  If it doesn't apply,  ignore it.  If you're one of the hundreds of millions of users to whom it might apply,  it could be helpful.

I do agree they probably should have a 'don't show me this again' option on this,  and all pop-ups.

[janndk 506]

52 minutes ago, gazumped said:

?? They're giving a warning for those of us who don't use Macs - and presumably for those Mac users who don't have/ use iCloud.  Seems fairly innocuous to me.  If it doesn't apply,  ignore it.  If you're one of the hundreds of millions of users to whom it might apply,  it could be helpful.

I do agree they probably should have a 'don't show me this again' option on this,  and all pop-ups.

Button "Open settings to switch" opens EN settings - but there is no setting/feature to switch.

As I understand, the possibility to switch is added somewhere in the future. Who cares if people are wasting a lot of time trying to find what's not there. 

[PinkElephant 8,142]

EN staff told they released the message first, because not enough local space was one of the root causes for loosing data. So they regarded it as important to release, even when the „move database“ was still in the making.

Sounds as a good enough reason to me, combined with poor communication. Engineers at work 🤣 ?!

[janndk 506]

55 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

EN staff told they released the message first, because not enough local space was one of the root causes for loosing data. So they regarded it as important to release, even when the „move database“ was still in the making.

Sounds as a good enough reason to me, combined with poor communication. Engineers at work 🤣 ?!

Some kind of fast temporary solution was probably required - and I fully understand that. But not giving any explanation, and even asking users to use settings that don't exist yet, is arrogant and downright stupid. I guess this is the new style with the new owners. 😒

[PinkElephant 8,142]

Not much different from the old style, if I remember well ?!

I rather prefer a good engineer with a challenge in communication, than a magnificent snake oil vendor with a deficit in crossing the t‘s and dotting the i’s, when it comes to code.

[scotttttttttt 1]

I've got 55gb of space on my hard drive and I still get this warning. It blocks me from creating new notes after it pops up...Pretty silly feature in my opinion. 

[janndk 506]

58 minutes ago, PinkElephant said:

Not much different frommte old style, if I remember well ?!

I rather prefer a good engineer with a challenge in communication, than a magnificent snake oil vendor with a deficit in crossing the t‘s and dotting the i’s, when it comes to code.

Good old Evernote was what it was. Slow in development, different in every platform, and constantly nagging  to upgrade to premium until you finally gave up. But somehow it was also stable and trustworthy = without too many surprises (good or bad).

EN10, although a kind of "downgrade", was a necessity I guess. And the new tasks feature was the best thing ever, and compensated for bugs and lost features. There was hope and progress.

Whether the new owners are good engineers or snake oil vendors is still unclear, but at the moment it feels unfortunately like Evernote is very close to total collaps😭

[gazumped 11,685]

1 hour ago, janndk said:

it feels unfortunately like Evernote is very close to total collaps😭

Did I use the 'glass half full' joke already?

[janndk 506]

6 minutes ago, gazumped said:

Did I use the 'glass half full' joke already?

Yes you did. I have paid for a full glass, but got one that is broken and soon totally empty.

[delphino 0]

I appreciated the remarks about caching space, but with over 50GB free on my Mac SSD the warning is a bit over the top...

[Randy Zeitman 19]

On 6/28/2023 at 4:04 PM, agsteele said:

The warning is a new function in the latest desktop apps. It is only a warning. But you should explore how much free disk space you have on the primary disk partition as a proportion of the total size of the primary partition.

Fair enough. 150GB free on 1TB single partition SSD.
No idea where to change it's settings in Prefs.

[PinkElephant 8,142]

No way in settings. EN staff said they released the notification early, because a lack of free space seems to be one of the root causes of recent data loss issues.

No idea about it - but 150GB free sounds pretty far away from loosing anything …

[BPVC 1]

I have the same issue, getting warnings about limited space. However, I have 700GB out of 1TB free on my local hard drive - so the warning makes absolutely no sense. And the link doesn't give me any options to address the potential issue. Evernote - any advice here?

[gazumped 11,685]

On 7/10/2023 at 7:29 PM, BPVC said:

any advice here?

Update to 10.59 via Evernote.com

[Paul B. 6]

1 hour ago, gazumped said:

Update to 10.59 via Evernote.com

Would this fix it on Mac too?

[s2sailor 2,215]

1 hour ago, Paul B. said:

Would this fix it on Mac too?

Yes, it should.

[Randy Zeitman 19]

Uh oh, bigger issue... but easy to fix I bet.

The Out of Storage alert is modal and not returning focus to the note when dismissed so menus are greyed out.

 

 

[agsteele 2,952]

For the time being, once you have v10.59 installed, just disable the warning and/or move your Evernote data storage. 

[BP Babb 1]

I have 160gb free and am getting this message.  EN is the worst.

 

[PinkElephant 8,142]

Where is your problem then ? Ignore it, or use 10.59 and turn it off.

[archz2 1]

On 7/10/2023 at 11:59 PM, BPVC said:

I have the same issue, getting warnings about limited space. However, I have 700GB out of 1TB free on my local hard drive - so the warning makes absolutely no sense. And the link doesn't give me any options to address the potential issue. Evernote - any advice here?

 

On 7/26/2023 at 1:55 PM, BP Babb said:

I have 160gb free and am getting this message.  EN is the worst.

 

Came here while searching for an answer. Really baffling how so many users are facing this issue with so much of storage available on their machines.

I hope someone from the Evernote team comes here to see the customer feedback.

Although very less often tech teams from the apps/software visit forums and check for customer feedback. 

 

On 7/21/2023 at 1:06 PM, agsteele said:

For the time being, once you have v10.59 installed, just disable the warning and/or move your Evernote data storage. 

Thanks. What is the process of disabling the warning? I am using Evernote on Windows 11. Moreover, how to prevent Evernote from showing us update notifications permanently?

[archz2 1]

Where can I download 10.59 version? Evernote automatically begins to download 10.59.5 from the official download page.

[Jon/t 1,302]

52 minutes ago, archz2 said:

Where can I download 10.59 version? Evernote automatically begins to download 10.59.5 from the official download page.

10.59.5 is the latest version. There was no public 10.59. The version preceding was 10.58.5 I think.

[archz2 1]

7 minutes ago, Jon/t said:

10.59.5 is the latest version. There was no public 10.59. The version preceding was 10.58.5 I think.

I see. Any way I can download the previous versions?

[agsteele 2,952]

Nothing official.

[archz2 1]

Finally got this tickmark. Never used to get it earlier. I uninstalled and re-installed Evernote today. I always used to update it. Hopefully the problem will remain solved. 

 

[delphino 0]

I think it's clear what is going on here now. Version 10.59.* and beyond have the option to disable this 'feature' - might be time to close this.

[PinkElephant 8,142]

The problem is not the warning. The real problem is when there is in fact not enough space left to save changes to notes locally.

The more important option than handling the warning is the possibility to move the local database off the system drive. I think after it was now introduced to settings, this will indeed be „here to stay“.

[delphino 0]

Good point, but most comments here are about the warning.

[PinkElephant 8,142]

Yeah, it’s the obvious what triggers responses, not the important.

We had some feedback from EN staff that leads to the conclusion that in some cases with data loss, a lack of local storage was the root cause. We know that the app first saves edits to the local database, and then syncs them with the server. If there is no local space left, nothing will sync, and both the local copy (that was never created due to missing space) and the server will not record the changes made.

I doubt this is the only reason for data loss, but at least if it has an impact, it should be avoided at all cost.

My conclusion: If somebody has a lot of space available, and only the warning was crying foul, turn it off. But if you run on a drive with only some GB left, it would be like shooting the messenger because you dislike the message.