Re: Dropbox removing external disk support for Mac users

We have 45TB uploaded to Dropbox and utilize our main DB folder on an external RAID volume in our 2019 Mac Pro (32TB Pegasus R4i) - this change will have drastic effects for our company.

As a precaution, we have opted to sync all files to online-only until a solution is developed.

(BTW: We recently uploaded 20TB to the DB cloud. Upload took 3 days. However, the online-only sync took about 3 weeks to process completely. So CAUTION to those trying to sync TB's of data "off" their drives via the Online-Only process.

tillkrueger 

Yes you should have.

Why make things complicated? Just get a large internal SSD drive (eg. 8TB) instead of having to back a ridiculously low 2TB external hard drive and try to sync it with Dropbox LOL

Why are you/Dropbox making things so complicated when they shouldn't.

Why spend more money if you don't have to? Oh, right. The American way.  The whole point of this cloud business is so you DON"T have to buy a huge internal, right? Isn't that why they make the computers smaller? Because you supposedly don't need the internal? Asterisk? Footnote? Hurdle? Hoop? I thought the cloud was to make it less complicated. You know, like self check out lanes. Ha. 

I have everything synced to online only, about 800 gb. I created an iMovie library just yesterday before reading all about this to save movies "to the cloud." I'm downloading everything in the Dropbox to a 2TB and I plan on ditching Dropbox. I have 1TB on OneDrive (though I hate their interface) and 200GB right now with Apple. I'm going to look into Googly and maybe use them vs. Dropbox. This is just the "last straw." I hated when they made changes a few years ago to where you needed a road map to "just simply" share or download something. I get the constant "upgrade," "check out the new way we've added tons of steps to do something simple," and "sync your synched sharing by sharing with your colleagues that you may not have but have to use" system. Yes or Okay? Done paying people to sit around in meetings coming up with ways to make things more difficult. 

Jamesgangcc 

"Why spend more money if you don't have to? Oh, right. The American way. The whole point of this cloud business is so you DON"T have to buy a huge internal, right?"

That's one reason, yes. But no the only one:

We use cloud sync with our external huge drives to allow collaboration with audio/video editing.  The workflow for lots of media houses with people who collaborate in multiple locations requires files be local (speed of editing and playback), and sync through the cloud not only facilitates that, it also backs up all the files in case of catastrophe.

Thanks, but that doesn't answer my question. No matter, I'm halfway through moving the files to an external for now, and will find another cloud solution. My monthly gets charged on the 28th. I'll use the $130/yr somewhere else. It appears, for my needs, the Googly will be about $40/yr. I'll have canceled by then. I use it rarely, as I say, more for storage, and whenever I go on to "just simply" share a file or folder, it's a labryinth of download, compile, move, upload, save, try and share, share only this way, share if they have an account... don't even try to find where "delete" is hidden. I don't need to be paying for all the bells and whistles I have to navigate through to save and file in the cloud or send to someone maybe 5 times a year. Enough. They can continue upgrading and changing and selling every 90 days to others. 

I assume this is a solution. 

tillkrueger It's so absurd we have to use emojis ... but "social" media has made simply conversation via typing so hard to read, right? I had no issue with what your wrote; I assume your apology was directed to someone else in the thread. Have a great day and thanks for your share. 

Exactly. I'll probably be leaving this thread soon (that I personally started) because I really never got a confirmation on my solution (though it appears putting everything online only if you can swing that, is the answer). However, as I say, I'm just over Dropbox and their constant manipulation. I seriously just need extra storage and way to share something occasionally that is large. There are even "freebies" online that can do that now. In a way, I'm glad this has shown up and lit the fire for me to finally stop giving them tons of money when there are other obvious solutions for me. 

millifoo  Actually, I believe you're right about the original thread. I forgot that I actually joined the thread vs getting a lot of answers to my question. Have a great day. I hope Dropbox realizes there are lot of annoyed people and at least fix this problem. I don't think they can go back to the olden days though when it was very simple to share, delete, save and move. 🙂 

millifoo 

"We use cloud sync with our external huge drives to allow collaboration with audio/video editing. The workflow for lots of media houses with people who collaborate in multiple locations requires files be local (speed of editing and playback), and sync through the cloud not only facilitates that, it also backs up all the files in case of catastrophe."

That's absolutely my point. No SSD external disk (take SanDisk v2, 2000/sec at best vs. 6-7000/sec for my M2 Macbook Max) can be as fast as local SSDs as of today.

External disks are not an option for professionals because we need the utmost speed of editing and playback indeed while working simultaneously across teams. Same happens when I use large and heavy audio banks such as Kontakt while producing music, I cannot afford to use external disks and rather invest my money in a single huge local SSD to have it all + easily backed up by Dropbox in real time.

So Dropbox I don't really care that you stop syncing external disks but EXTEND THE PERSONAL/PRO PLANS from their currently very limited 2/3/4TB hard limits to 10/20/30TB just the way Google Drive and other competitors have moved to. And don't mention Dropbox Business which sucks balls since it creates a different 3-user repository folder and kind of structure which I've tried before and messes things up. Just simply expand your storage plan and pricing accordingly for 2023 use in developed countries, not just India needs with 200GB plans lol, thanks.

tillkrueger 

Well then you should have invested in a better education, to get a better job and more money. No one can help you here if you can't even afford a basic internal drive that caters for your needs.

Jamesgangcc

You're lying to yourself. Google Drive will not fit the bill since it's much slower than Dropbox and it creates a lot of conflicts while syncing certain file types, which Dropbox never does. Syncing hundreds of GBs/TBs with G Drive doesn't cut it I've tried before trust me. If it did, I'd have moved my cloud files entirely with them of course. And as to other freebies you mentioned, I don't know what you're talking about but nothing (paid or free) comes as close as Dropbox.

It sucks balls but it's just the way it is.

shinbeth Thanks for the insight. I despise Google so that's good to know; maybe OneDrive (I've tried it and it makes me crazy), or I'll add more to the Apple iCloud. What I meant by freebies wasn't a cloud but the services that allow one-off shares when you occasionally need one. As I say, I only need to occasionally share. It's mostly about storage as a redundancy to Externals. 

Jamesgangcc 

If you have such low storage needs, why don't you simply use the lowest Dropbox Plan (2TB) with a 500GB/1TB or 2TB internal drive where you'll have everything in a single place? And keep an external SSD of equal size (eg. SanDisk v2 500GB-1TB-2TB or 4TB and soon 8TB) on your keyring (they're very small and light) to keep a TimeMachine backup of your entire system at any given time too? That's really the best of all worlds (Local SSD + Dropbox + TimeMachine) I've been using for years.

My only problem is that Dropbox doesn't allow enough storage space beyond 3TB (+1 as option) as Pro plan. But since you really have such low storage needs as it seems, this system is ideal for you, no limitations for you. Ideally Dropbox would also offer a 1TB plan but apparently they're too dumb to let people choose how much TB everyone wants, and they force everyone to go for 2TB (+1 option) or 3TB (+1 option) only plans. This is beyond my understanding, no other company acts like this with such lack of flexibility and common sense.

shinbeth That's what I've been doing. Re; the 2TB. Just feel like Dropbox has become so unfriendly and unwieldy. And I don't know if I need to pay them over $120 a year for storage. However, what I planned on doing is using Dropbox for a lot of old VCR iMovie captures directly to online only since I have so much space left on it. So, this whole conversation has reminded me on how much Dropbox annoys me (like I say, when I want to just simply share something) and I'm looking into other solutions. 

Ewwww... looks like someone has bought into the "Just World Fallacy" — we don't live in a meritocracy. Your ignorance is showing.

jahshwa Hey don’t knock Sync.com until you’ve tried it! It has app support for iPhone. iPad and Mac, and you can access the server directly through your browser. I find it nearly as reliable as Dropbox for my very active, daily needs, and their tech support replies within 24 hrs. I predict you’ll be happy with it.

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?