Where Does pCloud Store Cache and Mounts?
pCloud virtual drive mounts and cache folders on every OS, and why bulk copies explode the cache.
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pCloud mounts cloud storage as a local drive (P: on Windows, Finder sidebar on Mac, ~/pCloudDrive FUSE on Linux) streaming on demand, with a disk cache behind it: %LOCALAPPDATA%\pCloud\Cache on Windows, ~/.pcloud/Cache on Mac and Linux (relocatable in Settings, Disk usage; advanced settings in ~/.pcloud/data.db).
Bulk copy pastes into the mount first fill that cache (gigabyte defaults, 100+ GB possible when interrupted), so large uploads go through the app Upload or Sync flows instead. True Dropbox style mirroring comes from Sync pairs (any local folder, two way), not the virtual drive. Offline pinned files are the exception that genuinely lives on disk.
Where pCloud stores this, by platform
%LOCALAPPDATA%\pCloud\Cache\
Transfer cache (relocatable in Disk usage settings). Virtual drive P: streams on demand. Sync pairs mirror real local folders two way. Keep cache off remote drives.
~/pCloudDrive/
Default FUSE mount (streams, quota shown as size). Cache in ~/.pcloud/Cache; settings in ~/.pcloud/data.db (fscachesize tunable via sqlite). Console client mounts anywhere with -m.
~/.pcloud/Cache/
Same cache role (relocatable in Settings). Virtual drive in Finder sidebar (exact mount varies by version). Sync pairs plus offline pins for real local copies.
Frequently asked questions
Why is pCloud using 100 GB of local disk?
Interrupted bulk copies balloon the transfer cache. Quit the app, clear the Cache folder above (or relocate it in Disk usage), and upload big trees via Sync instead of drag and drop.
Does pCloud work like Dropbox sync?
Only via Sync pairs you configure. The virtual drive streams on demand by default; files there cost no local space until opened or pinned offline.
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