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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 š
>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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I was just about to upgrade but because I had this same thing happen to me with OneDrive, I thought to check first. This info should be very visible when you go to sign up. Something like, "On a Mac? Read this first!" Profits and all that though...what can you do?
I use Sync cloud because I can sync to an external drive still. Not sure what they're doing different but there you go.
Edit: I may have to retract. What is this I just found? I was able to choose an external drive.
Apple File Provider is a MAJOR DESASTER - i quit my Dropbox Account
Title says it all
Dropbox Folder needs to sit on the system drive
Such an ignorance, i'm totally floored.
>> "We're always looking for ways to improve Dropbox. We regularly release new versions of our products with better performance, additional features, and security enhancements." <<
My suggestion:Start by not deteriorating your products. Apple File Provider is an unbeatable disaster.We have massive computing power at our disposal, and all we users do with it is process Word and Excel online. Is this your vision of our work?
Are your imaginations so limited that you can't fathom how a user deals with 2TB of synced data? Do you have any idea how an audio program accesses data? A photo program? A video program?
Do you really think we can or even want to handle online-only data? I just canceled my 2TB Dropbox account because you've made it unusable. You've crippled your own product and failed to deliver on your performance promise.
According to the new Apple File Provider guidelines, I would have to equip my 4 Macs with 3TB system HDs to accommodate the Dropbox Folder, the system, and swap RAM. This fails because system HDs cannot be replaced afterward and because Mac Mini and MacBook Air are not even offered with 3TB HDs.
I am shocked by this ignorance.
Lots of great inforation, thank you for taking the time to explain things so clearly.
My issue currently, is that I and my team share large (200gb projects) using dropbox, and so we need to syc to our local machines, as any one of us may need to work on any particular project at any one time. Get 3 or 4 of these projects on the go for ay individual, and they will quickly run out of hard drive capacity.
I'm praying there is a software developer who has developed a workaround....!
Ben S.31 Have you put that two-partition system to the test? Because unless something has changed, I donāt believe Dropbox allows you to point a new software install at an existing Dropbox folder to avoid resyncing all those files. Every time Iāve ever re-installed Dropbox, it demands that I do a new sync to an empty folder.
And yes, you are correct, the new Dropbox version will not support non-boot partitions. The reason is that Apple has forced cloud file providers to store their files in a folder within your user profile. In some aspects this makes sense - think of a shared computer and the need to keep your personal cloud files private and separate from the other users - but it also creates a huge gaping problem for anyone needing to sync more data locally from their cloud provider than will fit onto Appleās internal drive offerings (physically or financially).
Some folks here have mentioned just moving your user folder to an external drive (or in your case, the other partition), which should in theory relocate the cloud storage folder along with it, thus solving this whole issue. But poking around one will find many, many stories of this workflow backfiring on people, as any OS updates will break this setup and potentially lock you out of your computer. Itās super risky and, in my view, not a viable solution at all.
For now, one good option is to invest in a NAS and store your files there instead of Dropbox. This can completely bypass the need for on-demand syncing of local files to save precious drive space, and gives you so much more control over your own data. If Dropbox is important to you, Synology has a cloud sync application for their NAS that will sync with Dropbox, which I am currently using but honestly will probably not bother going forward. The reason is that this setup has so much storage available that there is no need to fuss with setting files to local vs online-only to save space, and the built-in feature set of Synology Drive is good enough to render Dropbox almost completely redundant. From here, you can back up your entire NAS to the cloud for protection via Backblaze, if you use their backup service which offers unlimited backup space. Not to be confused with Backblaze B2 which is like Dropbox and, because of the expanded feature set, is way more expensive.
Curly123456 The only way to relocate the Dropbox folder is to point the DB software to a new location of your choosing, and it will completely resync to that new location. You canāt drag and drop, or in any other way āpre-populateā the new location with your existing downloaded files. Pointing Dropbox to a new location requires a total re-sync.
Also, if you update to the new version from your invite, you will be unable to use DB on an external drive going forward. The only way to reverse that is to uninstall DB and reinstall the version from their website, and when it asks where you want to locate the folder, choosing an external drive will prompt their software to use the non-beta version that allows for external drives.
I hear you.
There was some confusing talk above about people who have existing dropbox folders on external drives will be able to keep on using their external drives for Dropbox.
What would happen if I drag my dropbox folder to an external drive?
Mac OS Ventura
Currently there is an invitation in the dropbox icon on my mac to update... 'Dropbox for MAc OS on file provider is now ready. Update Dropbox to use it on the latest version of macOS on file provider'
I've been holding back from this update on the off chance that updating will close the external drive loophole...
I hope this make sense!
Curly123456 none that I am aware of. Only that the Beta is out there somewhere I believe and that's it. Even that doesn't allow external drive support though so you'd have to stick with the old version and all the issues that comes with.
You should know by now as far as all these big companies are concerned it's this: "Shut up and go away. Be thankful of what we give you and stop complaining. We'll tell you when we have anything for you and our software is amazing, you're the problem. Now just go away."
That's the 2020's for ya!!
Hi,
What's the update to this? My team and I will need to switch provider before too long if we cannot store Dropbox files on external drives.
Thanks,
A
I keep getting notifications about the new "better app" that uses the new Apple API. And then if I click on the info line below I get a huge list of all the things that will no longer be possible when I upgrade, as well as all the known limitations!
https://help.dropbox.com/installs/macos-support-for-expected-changes
Just a wild idea - maybe also tell users what the benefits will be with some actual examples other than it "integrating more deeply with the OS" š? Otherwise literally the only benefit listed is "fix issues related to opening online-only files in third-party applications".
Thanks
beenyweenies oh well, it is what it is. If push comes to shove I'll drop the external cloud completely and rely on my own NAS. I have a clone of all the files on there as a localised physical backup and I can expand it to about 75TB without the expansion drive, which I think will give me an extra 75TB on top of that.
This isn't the perfect solution but that's my final fallback if none of these companies can figure out a decent solution.
Anyway... I am now off Dropbox. All my files have been moved and all I now need to do is start removing the files from Dropbox. Then it's Au Revior, Adios, Ciao and no more drivel and bollocks stories from Dropbox. I'm just cancelling my personal account too.
Out of curiosity, anyone heard from Dropbox about the final stable release of their software? Just in to July and I'm pretty sure they said they would have it all resolved by May. Might be mistaken but I'm sure it was May.
