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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://help.dropbox.com/installs/macos-support-for-expected-changes
Just confirmed this with DB support (see below). Gutted - been with Dropbox for years and our entire video team flow is based around it ๐
>Hi there, I read today that you are scrapping the ability to store the Dropbox folder on external disks, on OSX. I'd like to ask more about this please.
> Hello Jon, and thank you for contacting Dropbox Support. My name is Joseph, and I will be more than happy to look into your request, right away.
That is correct Jon, as part of the Dropbox for macOS update, the Dropbox folder must be located in ~/Library/CloudStorage.
>This is a showstopper for us, and will mean we have to move to another service. We have a large distributed team using DB for video work, no way it'll fit within internal drives.
Is there a workaround?
> I totally understand and I apologize for the inconvenience. Unfortunately, there is no workaround on this as changing the location of your Dropbox folder is no longer supported by macOS.
>This change doesn't seem to have hit us yet - we're running a variety of machines inc Ventura
What will trigger its enforcement? Can we stay on an earlier OS or Dropbox version?
>The updates happening automatically every time the Dropbox app is restarting, for example if your device never restarts it should maintain the older version but we can't guarantee full functionality on older versions of the application.
>So what will happen - if we have a Dropbox folder on an 8TB drive and a tiny internal drive - will it try to clone stuff across and eat up the space? What's the mechanism?
>That's right, it will try to move the content on your internal drive until it has no space and gives you an error.
>Is Smartsync still supported? I.e. will it move stuff to being online only if it won't fit?
>It is, however it is now known as online-only.
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Well everybody thinks they have the answer. Find me a Mac with a 16 TB internal drive or more that will host all my video projects that I'm working on currently. Maybe then you'll have a point.
How about understanding others workflows before trying to solve it.
And have you seen the prices Apple is charging for large internal SSD?You can install the entire Mac OS on an external SSD drive. Why not do that and then run apps, like Dropbox, off of it too?
Why not start with that even the best external Thunderbolt drives are significantly slower than SOC SSD throughputs? My M1 Max's real world internal SSD speeds are ~3400 MB/s write and ~3000 read. A fairly pricey TB4 Sandisk G-Drive SSD manages ~2400 MB/s read/write. Change that to a USB-C Sandisk "Extreme" or Lexar "Professional" SL-600 drive and I get throughputs of ~1000 write and ~750 read maximum. Modern MacOS is designed to be booted off a fast, reliable SSD, and a jiggling cable is a huge fail point, end of story.
I think my backup plans are primarily to use sync.com, but I'm also thinking of evaluating managing my own shared storage device from my home network.
At any rate, very unfortunate dbox_ has chosen to completely ignore those of us with this pressing and very important need. Shame on your lack of customer focus Dropbox. BE TRANSPARENT with your plans!
I'm back here after a few months and I see that almost none of our requests have seen progress with Dropbox tech teams, as I expected. Meanwhile, I'm seeing a lot of layoffs in tech lately. So I'm becoming worried, will Dropbox follow suit? ๐ I mean no innovation = company going under usually. That would really be detrimental to us and we need a backup plan if they're going this route.
I think we just have to sit tight for a bit longer. File Provider is new it's not got half the features of the old API. LAN Sync for one thing.
There is no way I can see in the long run that syncing to external drives will not be possible. There must be millions of DB customers who would fill up their internal drives in a single day otherwise.
Just keep using the old API for now it still works perfectly on the latest MAC OS.100% support this. Its been around a year now and its either time to be clear about supporting external drives on MacOS or its time to tediously move onto another service....
It's not a real option to only run off an external drive when you need Dropbox use. Sorry, that's just kinda crazy.
dbox_ you really need to answer with your future plans for this. I'm about to come due for renewal later this month and would love to either move on or keep dropbox forever because you HAVE COMMITTED TO HAVING AN OPTION WHICH ALWAYS WORKS for external storage.
In the meantime it's working fine on the older non file-provider version, but I REALLY NEED TO KNOW if Dropbox is committed to a longer-term answer.
You can install the entire Mac OS on an external SSD drive. Why not do that and then run apps, like Dropbox, off of it too?
This is what Apple has done since the 80's. Forced obsolesce. Typically new OS that cannot run on old hardware, thus forcing a hardware upgrade. But now, in the era of cloud computing, they too will find another way to get us to buy another Mac. My 1TB drive on my iMac Pro (which cost over $5K) is packed. I use an external SSD for my Scratch Disk, but was hoping to run DB off of it. Looks like I better come up with a new plan. BTW, my Mac is still plenty fast, yet I can't upgrade the internal harddrive.
@ben_k โ Thanks, but it answers nothing, to be honest. It just states what we already know. Files will reside in ~/Library/CloudStorage. Why is Microsoft able to find a solution but not Dropbox?
