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Forum Discussion
External drive troubles in Ventura
I just updated to Mac Ventura, and my external SSD started acting weird. If I unplug without properly ejecting the drive, the OS considers it a new drive, and it gets labeled with a number (1, 2, 3, etc). This means Dropbox thinks its old syncing location is missing, and I have to redownload the files
It also happens if I restart the computer, so it is basically unusable. (EDIT: restarting the computer "resets" the naming, so if I restart the computer as soon as the problem arises, it fixes itself, but if I try to reconnect the files in Dropbox or another program like Lightroom, then it will break after a restart).
Any suggestions? This never ever happened with Monterey. I can't redownload 1.7 TB of files from Dropbox every time I restart my computer or unplug the drive. It also causes problems with a bunch of other software that need reliable file paths.
The attached image is from Davinci Resolve, it thinks there are four "Dropbox EX drives" when there is only one.
11 Replies
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- Hannah
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey AndPhoto, thanks for reaching out to the Dropbox Community.
Do you mean that the location of your Dropbox folder is your external drive?
If that's the case, with the new Dropbox for macOS app, your Dropbox folder can only be located in ~/Library/CloudStorage and cannot be moved, so the app might not be recognizing your external drive as the location of the Dropbox folder.
This is one of the expected changes with the new version of the app; did you get a notification to update the Dropbox app?
Let me know what you find.
I have the old Dropbox app, that still supports external drives, it just that it thinks it is a new drive every time I reconnect the external drive.
Yes. One time all I did was restart my computer, and it gave me the "relink or quit" option upon startup.
- Megan
Hi AndPhoto, the screenshot you provided is coming from a third-party app.
Can you check your Backup page online, and send me a screenshot of what you see there?
Technically I am not using the backup feature, this is the actual sync.
- Jay
Hi AndPhoto, in general, the Dropbox desktop application needs to detect the Dropbox folder before it can begin syncing. If the drive isn't fully mounted before the app loads, then you'll experience the issues you're currently getting.
In addition to that, there are various methods in which the external drive can get disconnected, which can also result in data deletion in some cases.
That aligns with my experience. I've definitely experienced data deletion. Is there a way for me to relink the drive without having to restart my computer? (It is the only method I've discovered so far).
- Jay
Currently, there isn't any method to do so, since the Dropbox folder should always be technically available to the app. While external drives are supported for the Dropbox folder, it isn't recommended for these very reasons.
