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Jon C.10's avatar
Jon C.10
Collaborator | Level 8
3 years ago
Solved

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-...
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  • BenDBX's avatar
    BenDBX
    2 years ago
    Hi Everybody,
     
    We’re excited to share that external drive support for Dropbox for macOS on File Provider is now available for testing as a beta feature. This is available to some users today and will be available to additional users on a rolling basis. In order to be eligible to test this feature, please follow the instructions in this Help Center article. 
     
    Keep in mind that participation in beta programs is subject to the certain terms and conditions. There are certain additional participation requirements:
    • This beta is only available to US-based users
    • You must be on macOS 15 beta
    • You must have an external drive that is APFS formatted and encrypted
     
    Please let me know if you have any further questions!
ben_k's avatar
ben_k
Helpful | Level 6
3 years ago

Here is a solution that is currently working for me:

 

I don't use the built-in 256GB hard drive on my MacMini at all!

 

Instead, I run everything off a 2TB external SSD in a Thunderbolt enclosure.

I used a utility app called SuperDuper! to copy the entire Mac HD to the external drive, then set that drive as the default startup disk.

 

Dropbox lives in the "/Users/Me/LibraryHome/CloudStorage" folder like Apple wants it to, and my 500GB+ of synced files work just fine.

 

I don't notice any slowdown compared with running off the integrated SSD. Thunderbolt is pretty fast. Your milage may vary.

 

ArthurPix's avatar
ArthurPix
Collaborator | Level 10
3 years ago

ben_k More power to ya, Ben. This is certainly still a workable option. I personally don’t want the risks  associated with this route—but for sure, more Dropbox users need to know about this, so I hope you get lots of views. Arthur

  • ben_k's avatar
    ben_k
    Helpful | Level 6
    3 years ago

    ArthurPix ,  Serpico What do you see as the biggest risks?

    I should say, the isn't my preferred way of working. No problems so far with my Intel processor, but I plan to upgrade to a M2 (or M3?) Mini in a few months  and don't know if this will integrate as well.

    (but there's no way I'm paying $800 extra for the big hard drive 🙄)

     

     

  • ArthurPix's avatar
    ArthurPix
    Collaborator | Level 10
    3 years ago

    ben_k @Oh if the external drive disconnects on a power failure. We get lots of them, but yes, I have my external drives on the same UPS as my Mac Studio and Monitor. So I’m reflexively wary of entrusting my Mac to my external SSD (which is an OWC RAID 0 4TB), and contains my Sync drive).

  • ArthurPix's avatar
    ArthurPix
    Collaborator | Level 10
    3 years ago

    ben_k @BTW I heartily recommend the Mac Mini M2 Pro! If Apple releases an M3 Pro Mac Mini, I’d buy it in a heartbeat. Last summer I convinced my wife (and biz partner) to switch from Windows to Mac, and I’m mightily impressed with the Mac Mini M2 Pro I obtained for her. Also got her the OWC expansion unit with 2TB SSD and 8TB HDD (had one in my parts box) for Time Machine. Great companion!

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