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Backup, sync, external drives and local backup
Hi.
I want help to see if I'm doing the right thing here. Maybe I'm being dumb and you have a better idea for my problem.
My computer has 500GB of space.
I work on my projects locally a...
It really depends, it sounds like if anything goes wrong, your most recent work will be on dropbox, and your last sync of the files from your external HDD will be available via your offsite backup. So for me this sounds like the optimal solution and I wouldn't really change anything unless for whatever reason you feel that in the event of some problem, you want to access your folders from your HDD quickly, rather than wait for the external backup copy.
You can have the google drive folder located on an external drive, but it can cause some occasional issues if it isn't connected 24/7. In my experience it's usually fine, it'll just wait until you plug it in and not do much in between.
I'm a noob on this site so I hope this is a reasonably good place to ask my question because it seems directly related to this thread.
Background: I'm a Mac User running macOS Big Sur (11.4) on a MacMini (2018) with 500 GB SSD of Internal Disk Space. I use an application called Capture One, a photo editing application (Apple Photos and Adobe Lightroom are similar applications that are more common). I have 1 TB of Photos that are stored on a 2TB External SSD. These External SSD files are referenced by the Capture One Library that resides on my Internal SSD. Capture One requires that these files are not on a network drive and not on a cloud. They need to be accessible through the file system.
Question: I've created a Dropbox Folder on the 2TB SSD with my Dropbox 2TB Subscription. All of my referenced files are stored there and generally the SSD is always plugged into the MacMini. I've been using Dropbox as a Cloud Backup Solution (this term may not be technically accurate, if so please correct me) for my files while allowing Capture One to access them through the File System. After 6 months, no problems, but I have seen some weirdness once or twice. I've been meaning to do this research so here I am. Despite having no problems, I see that on this thread that this is not a supported method and can result in dataloss. I definitely do not want to have a problem and prefer to use Dropbox in a supported manner. Is there a way to use Dropbox in a recommended way to support my workflow. Your recommendations would be very helpful. Thanks!
Jay
Dropbox Community Moderator
Dropbox Community Moderator- Jay, thanks for the quick reply. I’ll take a look and see how I can adjust. Thank you for your help!
Jay post is very good and will help you. Thank you, Jay!
Our cases are very similar. I decided to do not trust Dropbox 100%. 🙂 I know it is more work, but:
- Sync app do not open at startup.
- External drive is not connect all the time.
- So, like every 2 to 3 days I connect the drive, open the Sync app and let them talk to each other. 🙂
- Until now, everything is okay.
I know it's not the idea, but like you, I have less SSD than I need. Anyway, I keep backing up the external drive to another external drive (different location, don't worry) once a month.
Hope it helps you too.
I discovered this thread because was considering moving my Dropbox Folder to an External SSD and have my foot on the brake because of Jay 's very useful comprehensive linked post describing how files could be lost. I have the same problem as the OP - a 500Gb Macbook Pro Drive and a 2TB Dropbox account which I have never been able to use more than a quarter because the MBPro gets too full.
I also found that Smartsync is great in theory but in practise over months making space on my MBPro hardrive means that suddenly when I need stuff it has to download to Local and the interruption to workflow is jarring. So Smartsync is not that much use to me personally after all.
I bought a 2TB External SSD and moving stuff over there and then thought, I would love to back up on the Cloud somewhere else... then someone said you could locate your Dropbox Folder externally - so am now exploring moving everthing to the 2TB External SSD and making that my Dropbox Folder.
* * *
1/ Is there a recommended safe and wise and supported way to do this?
2/ Jay's points about Dropbox disconnecting accidentally and wiping stuff by default from an externally connected Dropbox Folder send shivers up the spine! The way I have used Dropbox is never to automatically sync any file. The act of manually dragging a file or folder to the Dropbox is my only method of syncing - and conversely pulling it out of the Dropbox Folder to somewhere else is the only way I would ever move anything off Dropbox or delete it. Is there a way to say to Dropbox " Never delete anything unless it is manually done"?
3/ Folks at Dropbox - could you not set up an official recommended safe and supported method by Dropbox because otherwise all of us with a MacbookPro laptop of only 500Gb and a 2TB account are not really able to make full use of Dropbox?
Just to add to the discussion, yesterday i personally found the risk of placing the dropbox folder in a external HDD. I have several computers where i keep my files synced with Dropbox (one at work, another at home and a third in my laptop).
My computer at work only has a 240gb SSD for windows and files, so i connected a 1TB external drive for my files (i have roughly 600gb of files) and set dropbox default folder to the external HDD. It was working fine for months without any issue.
Then last friday i forgot to turn off my work computer and apparently it keep running for all weekend and, around 4pm on Sunday, the external HDD died.
Dropbox apparently interpreted the external hdd failure as a mass deletion order and deleted ALL my files on all machines. Today (monday) when i arrived at work i saw the dead HDD, and since i brought my laptop i simply tought that i would work today from the Laptop until i got another HDD, but when i turned the laptop on, dropbox immediatelly started deleting all my files on the laptop.
I immediatelly accessed dropbox homepage and ordered it to restore the files, but now i´m looking at an estimated 8hs for full restoration.
So, beware of using external HDDs for the dropbox folder.
- Accadrolli A.
I’m really glad that you were able to recover your files.
Today, I use a separate Cloud Sync (either Dropbox or iCloud Drive) service and Cloud Backup (Backblaze) service. Backblaze offers version control on a backup for longer than 30 days for another $2/mo. After some of my own self-inflicted data scares, I have my Backblaze account set to 1 year of backup versioning. There is also Backblaze B2 service that is worth a look. I was using Dropbox on a External Drive until I discovered others, like you, who had bad experiences. After all, Dropbox doesn’t recommend doing this but I hadn’t realized that until after I had been using it on an external drive for several months Thanks for sharing to the community. *Dropbox is a great product if used as a Sync tool along with some other backup procedure.* Likewise, Backblaze is a great product, and a good value, as a backup tool. In addition, a local, disconnected copy of all your data on an HDD or SSD is more important than ever if one of these services gets a hiccup, or God Forbid, there is a randomware attack or other unforeseen problem. Even if the local copy is a month old, you can’t suffer a total loss if things get crazy! That way you have a sync, a cloud backup, and a local backup. It sounds like you know what you are doing already. Just posting this in case it helps someone. Best wishes!
Actually, when the symlinks used to work (couple of years ago...) Dropbox never deleted a single file. I had my picture folder in an external drive and symlinked it into Dropbox folder. Even if the external drive was disconnected (intentionally or accidentally) not a single file has never been delated in the Dropbox cloud (probably DB was able to "understand" that a disconnected drive does not mean that the user wanted to delete everything!). Why did you change?
