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.

[Ben S.31]

Hi there, Ive received an email re the new MacOS FileProvider version of Dropbox.

I have 2x partitions on my MacBook internal drive, one for the system and one for Dropbox. This allows me to quickly erase/reinstall the system without having to copy terabytes of work off the drive - basically nuke any system issues quickly.

The FileProvider email links to notes which state it won’t support external drives and I assume this also means partitions?

And if so, is this temporary or the future of DropBox on Mac?

BTW sorry if this isn’t the right forum, the link just dumped me at the default forums home page.

Any help/ideas much appreciated. Cheers, Ben.

[TRO_Berlin]

The Idea of a 10gbit local Server (linux based, running a proper normal version of Dropbox with the ability to sync to wherever you want) is like this:

The Server has a huge RAID Storage attached

It runs the Dropbox Software so our files are synced to Dropbox

This enables us to do HomeOffice from a MacBook with SmartSync

In our Studios we work via 10gbit Ethernet on the RAID Storage, which gets synced to Dropbox by the Linux client.

So no Dropbox on our Workstation Macs at all, only the 10gbit Connection.

We have the Dropbox Sync still working like this, the only thing we loose is all of the right-click menu stuff like sharing links, but you can do this from the web...

That's the idea if we never get a real solution by Dropbox for external Drives...

[ArthurPix]

@TRO_Berlin @Jon C.10 @Ben S.31 @UKD Here’s a great article by the truly legendary Adam Engst in TIDBITS, detailing possible solutions:

https://tidbits.com/2023/03/10/apples-file-provider-forces-mac-cloud-storage-changes/

I recommend everyone read it, even though some solutions, e.g. Maestro   no longer work on my own machine. BTW, I’ve been following the Synology-related solutions with great interest, as it may well come to this in a new age of Apple carelessness.

[UKD]

@ArthurPix that’s an interesting article and also mentions the uproar faced by users and that we’re not the only cloud users forum that is in disarray.

It does seem that reading that that Apple is deliberately doing this to make people upgrade their storage with them at their extortionate prices. This doesn’t sit well with me and whilst I usually pay more because I run a laptop as I need mobility, Apples prices and connected items (chip, memory, GPU etc etc) is making it harder for users.

Combine that with most cloud storage companies inability to find a workaround, my gut feeling is even if Dropbox et al find a solution that Apple is just gonna close that door by changing something else. That being said, Microsoft have sorted this, Sync DOT com have sorted this too so Dropbox also should’ve sorted it too, especially with their resources. Weird that Google haven’t managed to or maybe they don’t care. Probably don’t care actually, especially how they just make money hand over fist.

Anyway, I digress. Just 3 more weeks and I will be done. I will not have to worry about any of this and I will be free of all these issues. I just pray that Apple doesn’t break sync DOT coms app.

[Ben S.31]

Thank you @ArthurPix great article.

Seeing as I always use a separate partition for the system vs work, I may try migrating the Users folder to the work partition. That way the Dropbox/FileProvider defaults should work in a way that’s Apple sanctioned (in theory).

@ArthurPix Do you have experience with moving the Users folder to another partition - any pros/cons/suggestions?

Cheers, Ben

[jakobsjobom]

@UKD Well, Sync has "solved" it by allowing users to use an old version of their app. "Sync is currently supporting an older version of our app. This app does not include the Sync Cloudfiles/ Dropbox SmartSync feature, but still allows you to change the Sync folder location to external drives."

Dropbox on the other hand states: "You can install the standard Dropbox desktop app on a new device and after the installation, you can choose to avoid the upgrade to the new version for macOS. Our team is working on a solution currently, but there is still no official statement or a time frame for a fix."

This I got from support chats with Sync and DB respectively.

[UKD]

@jakobsjobom that's interesting because I know the Cloudsync feature is in beta at the moment because I'm using it. In fact all my staff are using it and the MacOS users they're using an external drive. The windows guys, also are on the beta app bu they're not affected by the Apple API.

Whilst we are limited in the features when right clicking a file and finder integration, like you get in Dropbox, I find we don't need more than what we get. Create a Link, Set cloud only and Set local. There's 1 other which is to Sync to vault but I have my own vault with my NAS's so I don't use that feature.

It'll be interesting to see what happens over the coming months but all this change is causing me certainly a lot of issues with regards to hardware upgrades. 3 of my guys are on 5 year old 27" iMacs so they need upgrading this year but without having a very clear decisive outcome from anyone as to what the future path is what do I get? 1TB drives or re-mortgage my house and go for 4TB drives?

[beenyweenies]

@UKD Actually Sync doesn’t appear to have it sorted any better than Dropbox. In fact their solution is identical to Dropbox from what I gather - let customers use the old app until a real solution presents itself OR Apple finally deprecates kernel extensions and Sync forces everyone onto the new system. This is exactly what Dropbox is doing.

The oneDrive approach (storing only reference files in the CloudStorage folder, while the underlying ‘real’ data is linked in from a cache folder located anywhere you like) is probably what most of these companies will adopt, although it seems inefficient and your data will be stored in a format that is entirely reliant on their software to make sense of, so you’re locked in to their scheme. I personally won’t adopt any solution that turns my files into jibberish like this.

[UKD]

@beenyweenies oh well, it is what it is. If push comes to shove I'll drop the external cloud completely and rely on my own NAS. I have a clone of all the files on there as a localised physical backup and I can expand it to about 75TB without the expansion drive, which I think will give me an extra 75TB on top of that.

This isn't the perfect solution but that's my final fallback if none of these companies can figure out a decent solution.

Anyway... I am now off Dropbox. All my files have been moved and all I now need to do is start removing the files from Dropbox. Then it's Au Revior, Adios, Ciao and no more drivel and bollocks stories from Dropbox. I'm just cancelling my personal account too. 

Out of curiosity, anyone heard from Dropbox about the final stable release of their software? Just in to July and I'm pretty sure they said they would have it all resolved by May. Might be mistaken but I'm sure it was May.

[David H.78]

I keep getting notifications about the new "better app" that uses the new Apple API. And then if I click on the info line below I get a huge list of all the things that will no longer be possible when I upgrade, as well as all the known limitations!

https://help.dropbox.com/installs/macos-support-for-expected-changes

Just a wild idea - maybe also tell users what the benefits will be with some actual examples other than it "integrating more deeply with the OS" 😜? Otherwise literally the only benefit listed is "fix issues related to opening online-only files in third-party applications".

Thanks