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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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Never mind. I did the Dropbox upgrade, and most of the files ended up as cloud-only, so this did not use up my hard disc drive.
- SOOOOOO GLAD you heard this feedback Kevin! We’ve been business users for over ten years now and would have had to rethink our entire workflow and probably find another sync solution if this update was forced.
I’d echo others here that trying to get answers via customer service on this type of issue is incredibly frustrating. But I am thrilled to see it’s on your radar and you’ll find a solution. This explains the unusual Dropbox behavior I've seen the last couple of weeks. Add me to the list of Mac admins who will have to leave Dropbox (after 12 years of paid!) if it can't support external drives. What a mess this is making.
Please let's not have this marked as "solved" when the solution is kicking the can down the road. This is NOT "solved" to me. Please don't mark this is "solved" until you at Dropbox have a plan for exactly how you will facilitate external drive support in OSX. This is not optional. This is a complete nonstarter.
Hi, one solution is: Go to the original (new) location of the Dropbox folder, then highlight the folder, then right click (two fingers on the touchpad) and select "make alias". Drag the alias to your desktop wherever you want it, and voila!
The alias doesn't solve the problem.. the problem is many people who are concerned have terabytes of data on their external drives and not enough space on their internal drives. The alias link doesn't solve that.
Crap, I responded to the wrong guy. Sorry about that. I was trying to respond to the guy who was concerned about it being moved from users, to the library; all on the internal drive. He thought he had to go looking for it every time in the new location.
This is not a disaster. It's a clusterf##k. An absolute f##k you to your customers. So I'll be looking at other solutions, like everyone else.
Mister Admin THIS IS NOT SOLVED.
Please UNSOLVE this thread!
An 'alias' has never worked properly. For years I have used a sym link (symbolic link). For those who don't know, it's like a smarter alias.
The tiny original lives where Dropbox wants it and the real stuff is on an external.
Years ago I was using a free sym link maker but it seemingly became unsupported with a later Mac OS. I then just bought a cheap one off the App Store for a couple of bucks and it's been great. I'm not sure that will solve this upcoming issue, but apart from this thread, I've heard nothing else about this change.
