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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 😕
>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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Does sync.com use a kernel extension though? If it does then once Apple update and kernels are no longer compatible then won't they just have the same issue longterm?
This is an interesting idea. Crap that this could actually be the only solution. I have ran off external drives off and on over the years. mainly when I am doing an upgrade of the OS and want to test the new OS and essential programs etc. So in theory you could run the OS of the giant RAID drives, I mean this can have issues for laptop users who ever want to you know... be mobile. But if you did the install of the OS on the external drive then you would have all that space "internal" as far as the OS is concerned and on the correct drive etc. But not the best work around. But for static machines maybe this would be okay. Why do apple have to break something that is working so well for since it was getdropbox.com
I got told today that I'd be fine using an external drive.. I don't get it but it doesn't install confidence especially when I'm looking at setting up a client with this system. So not really sure what to do.? I don't want to install something which is costing them thousands of pounds $$ and then it go wrong!
Yes same... still works for me on external drive, so I haven't looked at any other solutions. There are two conflicting posts above, one saying Apple is or soon will be allowing external drives on file provider, and the other one saying Dropbox won't be supporting external drives.
So dropbox support said that we didn't HAVE to migrate to Apple File Provider and so we could stay on a version that does work? I actually have dropbox on external drive and it is still working as per normal. Have you had issues with using yours as stands or did you try to update dropbox and migrate? I am on Monterey.
- It will look like it works but it won’t sync. I tried recently regrettably.. You’ll end up seeing your 18tb folder structure with zero bytes.
I am in the middle of migrating a client off a server and onto dropbox with over 18TB files and they're adamant it will be fine on external drive? Did anything change for you or is it all still working?
If I'm reading this correctly, it looks like there may be hope on the horizon. According to the Apple File Provider developer docs, it looks as though Apple has added some functionality for external drives: link.
"Cache files on external disks. Confirm whether a volume is eligible for storing a domain using checkDomainsCanBeStoredOnVolume(at:), and create a domain on that volume using the new init(displayName:userInfo:volumeURL:) initializer. Store data about the current sync state using stateDirectoryURL(), and determine whether to connect to a domain created on another device using shouldConnectExternalDomain(completionHandler:)."I upgraded to a base model MacBook Air with a 256 GB drive. I just use it for DJing and surfing the web. I did a Time Machine backup and restore. DB moved my folder to an encrypted folder that sits in the Library. The transition was a nightmare as I have 2+TB on DB. It clogged my Mac for a few days as I worked through getting it to online only.
My iMac Pro still functions as normal, though, with DB sitting on the internal drive. It's when you make a change that you'll have problems. DB support was very helpful and they escalated my ticket. Ultimately, it just took a long time to for DB to sort itself out and my laptop is fine.
