Disaster: Dropbox removing external disk support for Mac users :(

[Jon C.10]

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://talk.tidbits.com/t/dropbox-drops-support-for-storing-files-on-an-external-drive-and-onedrive...

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.

[UKD]

@fjazzfjazz from my understanding you can share folders which is what I do with my team. Now how this would work with external partners I'm not sure. I too have specific folders shared with external partners so how this works I will find out.  I presume you can share a link to a folder and they can upload and download files if you give them access. Again, I'm not sure if that's right or they need to have an account or be part of your team licence.

In my testing I can create a team folder which is I guess our day to day working folders but as for externals, I'm not sure yet. I've only started playing around but I have downloaded the beta version of their desktop app as that's the one that has the same as smartsync as dropbox. Non-beta version is download files only.

What I have found out so far, and for which I've emailed support on to get clarification on, is that it seems that if you open a file like indesign and it has links, those links if they're online only do not automatically sync locally. So what in turn means is that if you have files all over the place it's gonna be fun times ahead.

[fjazzfjazz]

@UKD ufff.... sounds like it will also be an uphill battle with Sync.com then.

If you could please test if you share an InDesign session, with the assets correctly on the same folder, to someone that does not have Sync.com, can they work on it? Just " sharing a link to a folder and they can upload and download files if you give them access" wont be enough for audio and video editors. 

Also, (if you have time) can you explain why the duck can Sync.com allow external drives and Dropbox can't? 

Thanks!

[UKD]

@fjazzfjazz I can't test an external user on an indesign file because of copyright and protection for our clients. I have to be super careful in that and external partners.

Do you mean if someone can be on the file at the same time as you? If yes then Indesign never allowed that itself anyway. Dropbox treats the file as an individual file once stored locally and is therefore a local file. Now if you were working on that file on your machine and saved your file and someone else was working on their file at the same time as you but saved after you, then their version would overwrite yours. There's no joint working on files that I am aware off.

And I presume Dropbox cannot be bothered to do it and are just saying it's Apple's fault. Maybe there's higher encryption in theirs, maybe they use Apples API and haven't created their own. Maybe it's because they've turned themselves in to a bloatware company with all these new and amazing features that nobody f*****g wants. Who knows, but I am pretty sure they do not give a flying f*** about us customers.

[ArthurPix]

@fjazzfjazz @UKD I’m going out in a limb here because I rarely use Dropbox for file sharing or collaboration, and don’t think that’s going to change if I migrate. But from what I see in the “getting started” instructions, your collaborators will need to use Sync as well, and — while it’s conceivable that two different storage providers could create a joint-use framework — I don’t see much incentive for this to happen in the real world. For one thing, the engineers at Sync have created a true “Trust No One” environment, with real end-to-end encryption that only YOU have the keys to unlock. At Dropbox, the company’s engineers have keys as well, and I won;t go any further down that rabbit-hole. So you’re going to need to keep at least a minimum paid Dropbox account unless you can persuade all your coworkers to switch.

[fjazzfjazz]

Very helpful, thanks @ArthurPix ArthurPix

[pumhadj]

Dropbox needs to get on implementing this feature ASAP.

As of 2023, with newer versions of MacOS 12+, it's not longer possible to store dropbox mirrored files on a separate disk!
It's insane, on the web, there are sooooo many of us using external drives that can match the capacity of the DB account.

When will this implement?
I've been using DB for a long time, but I'm looking now elsewhere for a different could provider, as this is a deal-breaker functionality that needs to be there for

recent OSX Mac users. Scout the web, and there are a gazillion of frustrated and angry users.

I just got a new mac mini, and sadly found out that I cannot move the dropbox folder elsewhere.
And using the "sync" only feature ain't cutting it for me. 

[Arno K.]

Doesn't work. Only the alias file itself gets synced.
Same thing for a symlink.

[mymgraphics]

I am currently running Mac OS 13.2.1 and Dropbox version 163.4.5456 and it's working fine with my external drive. Which OS update has disabled moving the files to an external? I got asked to update my Dropbox app but I keep saying NO for now. Not sure how long before it just updates it automatically and tries to move all my files to my startup disk which has very little room left.

[UKD]

@mymgraphics you can see the upcoming changes here: https://help.dropbox.com/installs/macos-support-for-expected-changes

But here's the main one everyone is moaning about:

• Changing the location of your Dropbox folder is no longer supported by macOS. 

This we know is not true and is a "Dropbox is unable to support external drives". The reason we know it's not true is that there are other cloud based file sharing companies that do allow you to change the location of their folder in the new macOS 12.3+. I am looking at one right now (sync.com) and test bedding it.

[fjazzfjazz]

@dropbox  you could at last clarify the language below:

But here's the main one everyone is moaning about:

• Changing the location of your Dropbox folder is no longer supported by macOS. 

This we know is not true and is a "Dropbox is unable to support external drives". The reason we know it's not true is that there are other cloud based file sharing companies that do allow you to change the location of their folder in the new macOS 12.3+. I am looking at one right now (sync.com) and test bedding it.