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Disaster: 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://talk.tidbits.com/t/dropbox-drops-support-for-storing-files-on...
beenyweenies that's kinda true but also not true. Synology Drive is now much better than it used to be but the downside is that it takes a large amount of effort to set it up with individuals and individuals access points etc etc. I use it for my company archive now of old files and to make my life easier I've just given my guys access to everything. Saves me a lot of headaches. You can do individual syncing of folders and files locally now but again it's much more difficult that say Dropbox is.
UKD Are you saying that you can now select which Dropbox folders/files are synced locally vs cloud with the Synology Cloud Sync? If so that's awesome, I don't own a Synology NAS yet, I was just going off of what I've read. I know you can manage users/file access with the local Synology tools, but as you said it's something many people would find to be not ideal.
Assuming you currently use a Synology system, how do you like it? I am firmly on the fence at this point, have many potential uses for it but just not sure about the read-write speed as I am a 3D artist referencing lots of large files into my projects.
Please return the old title.
- Hundreds of comments are about the original title. Please change it back to Disaster: Dropbox removing external disk support for Mac users 😞
marcosdutra wrote:Please return the old title.
I attempted to change it to
Dropbox Mac External Storage Blame Game NIGHTMARE — still unresolved after months of waiting!
but I may not apparently have the forum juice to change a subject line. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
beenyweenies I just used 1Gbe but this was physical connection and all the staff were on 1Gbe cabling and were sat in the office. Now everyone is at home and in different parts of the world so hence we only use the NAS as an archive as it doesn't get daily and minute to minute use.
Everyone has different needs so I can't really comment on yours I'm afraid. I have moved all my day to day on to a different cloud company (sync DOT com) due to Dropbox's inability to confirm their status on the new implementation of the software, it's final impact etc etc. I don't think they've cared really in how this will affect their customers and then you have Apple who also, with their change in API, are putting a gun to their customers to upgrade to incredibly expensive internal drives. I've always liked Apples products but as time goes on it seems they are locking you in further and further in to their products.
I mean I can't even decide what Mac to buy these days. It's so **bleep** confusing and I've been an Apple user for nearly 30 years. Mac mini or Mac Studio? Mac Pro is off the charts expensive (I've owned several over the years prior to the new cheesegrater model) and then you need that large internal drive for Dropbox and then the price almost doubles. It's just crazy. All I see are stats for running either Apple products or benchtests for non-realistic usage. I want know how do these computers work with upscaling a photo (going from a 60MB file to 3GB file), how fast is it PDFing a 30 page indesign document with heavy images. Basic stuff, not how long does the machine take to render a static 3D image or if it can run 8 x 4K timelines and with real time scrubbing. Do I need 32GB Ram or wold 64GB be better. Is Dropbox going to suck all the memory from these machines too like it currently does? Not that I care about Dropbox for much longer.
I guess I am super frustrated these days. It seems that the customer is the last to know anything and then when told something and you ask questions you're told to shut up and accept it. Adobe did that a few years ago with one version of CC which was basically a 12 month customer bugfest. Open inDesign and it crashes. Put a ticket through and told to accept that that's what happens.
I've gone way off topic, but this is the way of the world these days. However, when a company comes along and starts listening to customers then people will jump ship and that is what is happening to Dropbox. They don't see it yet because people still have their paid upfront subscriptions, BUT when these all start coming up for renewal and people don't renew, THEN they'll notice. THEN they'll start asking customers what can they do. THEN they'll realise that they royally f***d up, BUT until then they still have everyone's money. Me personally I'm not renewing my personal Dropbox and my Team of 10 licenses Dropbox. I'm pretty sure I'm small fry but when you start adding up all these small monies they soon start adding up.
- beenyweenies I’ve not really used it that much as it’s an archive drive. Some of my team have accessed files and they’re quite happy with it but we’re not using it on a day to day basis. Plus for me it’s by my desk whereas my guys are on the other side of the world. They’ve not complained and are pulling down files only if they need it. We do all kinds of work but video is the biggest as files individually can range from a few kb up to a a few hundred MB up to tens of GBs.
We used to use the Synology NAS’s when we were in the office over AFP/SMB and they were great, even with 12 people accessing them. I don’t know if I’d want 12 people accessing it via DriveSync on a constant basis though, especially as it’s at my home rather than an office, so apart from the constant noise I’d have my internet bandwidth throttled with the uploading. UKD Thanks for the info. Did/do you use the optional 10Gbe ethernet, or just bridge two 1Gb, etc? Sounds like it could actually work for my needs, just not sure if it's worth it given the cost of the device, drives, 10Gbe upgrade, SSD for cache, upgrading my network switch etc. This project is getting more expensive every time I look at it lol.
UKD beenyweenies I [originally] retitled this post because I’m wandering off-topic with you about Mac choices. [But then I got so many gripes that I titled it back.]
I got a MC Studio Ultra with 64GB and a 2Tb internal drive —plus 4Tb OWC external nvme RAID — and have been VERY happy with all my Lightroom. And Photoshop needs. This thing flies and I’m never short on memory, For my wife, I just purchased a Mac Mini M2 Pro with 16 GB and 1 Tb internal drive plus 2Tb external SSD and my re-purposed OWC 2Tb external nvme RAID. She works mostly on her own health website so her day-to-day needs are comparatively modest, but she does need photo processing power so I’ve tried out her rig on Adobe LR and it never even hesitates.
BTW, spouse and I BOTH are on Sync dot com now after Dropbox scared the cr@p out of me.
So, @UKD , I’d recommend a Studio with M2 Extreme and 32GB at a minimum, 64GB ideal. I kinda doubt you’ll need the M2 Ultra, but with everything you’ll be spending, if it were me, the Ultra buys me another year of service so I figure it’s well worth it. Just one man’s opinion.
rockdirector Jennifer G.29 UKD marcosdutra Okay okay okay I changed the title, but it's a no-win,m because now I'm entirely off-topic in that post. But if it makes you happy....😳
