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Dropbox removing external disk support for Mac users
In case anyone's unaware... if you're a Mac user storing your Dropbox on an external drive, you'll shortly lose that ability.
https://talk.tidbits.com/t/dropbox-drops-support-for-storing-files-...
UKD Ru 1971 shinbeth camner So… today I canceled my Dropbox auto renewal.
I’m already paid up through mid-November 2023, so this doesn’t mean I’m dropping 😎 off the map — at least not for the next six months — but I’ve moved all supported folders to my new service, and am now no longer fearful of having my online storage pulled off my external drive.
I MIGHT come back if Dropbox commits to external drive support. But honestly, I can’t see much advantage to doing so. Here are my priorities:
SPEED. My new service is approximately as fast as Dropbox or, anyhow, as fast as I need.
SECURITY. My new service has REAL end-to-end, TNO (trust no one) encryption, meaning their engineers couldn’t hand anyone else the keys even if they wanted to.
2-FACTOR. It supports 2-factor authentication via Google, MS or Authy.
SHARING. It offers free accounts up to 5 GB, which is big enough for pretty much anyone outside the service with whom I want to share data.
S-P-A-C-E. For the same price I’m paying Dropbox for 3 Terabytes of storage, I now get 6 Tb.
Again, I haven’t totally pulled the plug on Dropbox. I’m still paid up for the next six months, and will periodically bring my Dropbox up to date just so that I have a safety net. However, I doubt I’ll need it.
I’ve already switched over my iPhone, iPad and MacBook Pro, and will switch my desktop Mac Studio in another week.
Water’s fine!
And, of course, I’m staying here in the Dropbox community to help out anyone who asks!
apfund
Dropbox Product Manager
Dropbox Product ManagerHi Arthur,
While I cannot comment on many of the points you mentioned, there is one thing that I can add:
My team is currently working on zero knowledge, end-to-end encryption, natively integrated with Dropbox for business customers. While I can't confirm a specific timeline or roadmap or pricing at the moment, I want to assure you that we are aware of your need for this native integration. Also, we (and especially I personally) read your comments/wishes/ideas and all feedback shared in this forum related to end-to-end encryption. I'm also sharing everything I see and read here internally and will make sure that your voice is heard.
apfund what started all of this is that Dropbox might not support external drives anymore.
How can Sync.com support it?
All of this turmoil would be over if Dropbox can at least confirm that somehow, it will always continue to support external drives.
Do you have any word on this matter?
At last, a response from the dropbox team, but sadly none of it was about external drive support. Can you please tell what you guys are currently working about this ordeal.
pampy I know right. They are gracing us with their presence. Shame they haven't been doing that the last 18 months.
I thought the comment from apfund is hilarious; "I'm also sharing everything I see and read here internally and will make sure that your voice is heard." We've all been screaming at the top of our voices to get someone to listen to us and nobody has. So apfund you are about to lose a load of customers, you know, those people that help pay your wages.
That'll fall on deaf ears, just like every other comment made on here or to them.
- apfund and there we go folks… the party line. Are you sure Dropbox isn’t in the politics game because you sure do avoid explaining things. And what’s even funnier is smaller companies without Dropbox's massive resources have managed to support external drives.
The above is exactly why you’ll lose customers. Ok folks, so I just installed sync.com > 6TB Solo Professional plan and ran some tests.
WOW they really improved since I tried like 10 years ago. I think this is the end of Dropbox if they don't offer better storage soon.
It's perfect really. I'm not renewing my Dropbox yearly then. Bye.
- Emmet
Community Manager
Hello everyone,
We understand that you want an update on this issue as soon as possible, and our engineering team is working to get the external drive support reinstated. We are sorry that we don't have any updates for you at this time, as we know this can be frustrating. We have shared your responses with the team, and we will get back to you as soon as we've an update.
Regards,
Emmet
shinbeth I did say “if the matter is dealt with in a timely fashion.” We have heard repeatedly they are working on it, and I can only assume they are doing so. I’ve already enrolled with an alternate cloud storage provider and copied my folders over, so I’m not at risk of losing my external drive support, but the new service isn’t perfect —for example, I’m finding that iPad uploads of even the tiniest pdf files are taking forever, while with Dropbox they executed immediately.
So truly, if I had my druthers, I’d druther stick with Dropbox and keep my external drive support. Truth is truth.
