Dropbox removing external disk support for Mac users

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.

Frankly, you are not in a position to tell anyone to stop "threatening" to cancel our accounts. That is the least we should be doing.

I for one did cancel my account at least from a yearly paid membership to the monthly paid. I will likely cancel that if there's any more of this nonsense here. They could've warned us. They should have already been proactively dealing with this.

This issue completely caught me off guard. I was already looking for another solution since I can't stand "woke" - and lo and behold came across this discussion while I was searching. Dropbox has crossed the line in this regard. I will likely still leave as soon as I can find a suitable replacement of which it appears that there are many. It's just difficult to take the time to go through them. But go through them I will.

It wasn't until a tremendous number of people "threatened" to cancel their membership that they finally responded. This is completely unacceptable. They should've been out in front of this. Way in front of this. But this is kind of typical Dropbox, isn't it?

So let me personally say it loud and clear… If this is not resolved and you don't stay in front of it and keep us informed, I for one will cancel my service 100%. I hope that's clear enough.

As to the person I am responding to here, thank you for the semi solution.

As you were.