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Forum Discussion
Sharing a Dropbox folder between Mac and Windows 10 Bootcamp
Hello,
I just purchased a new MacBook Pro which will be used for both MacOS and Windows 10 via Bootcamp. I have limited SSD space, so I wanted to try to make them share a Dropbox folder.
...
It can work, but it's not a supported configuration and if you run into any problems, you'll be on your own.
Basically, you'll install Dropbox on the first OS and specify the location you want the Dropbox folder to be in. Wait for the account to be fully synced. If you use Selective Sync at all, disable it so ALL folders are syncing. Once fully synced, install Dropbox on the other OS, again pointing it to the same location as the first. Remember, you're specifying the folder that you want Dropbox to be in, so you want to select the folder above the current Dropbox folder. If you select the existing Dropbox folder, you'll end up creating a Dropbox within a Dropbox.
It's extremely important that you DO NOT USE SELECTIVE SYNC while running in this configuration. If you do, it will cause files to be deleted from your account.
Rich
Super User II
Super User IIIt can work, but it's not a supported configuration and if you run into any problems, you'll be on your own.
Basically, you'll install Dropbox on the first OS and specify the location you want the Dropbox folder to be in. Wait for the account to be fully synced. If you use Selective Sync at all, disable it so ALL folders are syncing. Once fully synced, install Dropbox on the other OS, again pointing it to the same location as the first. Remember, you're specifying the folder that you want Dropbox to be in, so you want to select the folder above the current Dropbox folder. If you select the existing Dropbox folder, you'll end up creating a Dropbox within a Dropbox.
It's extremely important that you DO NOT USE SELECTIVE SYNC while running in this configuration. If you do, it will cause files to be deleted from your account.
Well that didn't work out very well...
The Mac was making hidden files for each folder (I.e. if there was a folder called Stuff, it would make a file called ._stuff ) and totally spammed a bunch of shared folders. No way to turn off uploading these hidden files. On top of that, I got some sort of error that caused it to get stuck at 49 files remaining to sync (out of hundreds of thousands).
I guess in the end I will just have a Dropbox folder in both Mac and Windows partitions.. Thanks anyway for trying to help!
- Rich
JordanC wrote:
The Mac was making hidden files for each folder (I.e. if there was a folder called Stuff, it would make a file called ._stuff )
That's the result of storing files on a non-native drive partition. Native partitions for OS X and macOS are able to store metadata for files. When the partition type being used can't store that data, your Mac will write it to additional ._ files (known as Apple Double files) which all other systems (Windows, Dropbox, etc.) will be able to see, and which Dropbox will sync. If you can use a partition type that is native to Mac and that also is accessible by Windows, you likely won't see those files. I just don't know if Windows can read the Mac partition types.
Thanks for your reply.
Windows can read Mac partitions, and vice versa, but in both cases you need a secondary program/driver. I would go down that route, but I'm running out of time to play around with this machine and really need to get to work ... so I think I'm just going to end up with two Dropbox folders on the same physical hard drive (one in the Mac partition, one in the Windows partition). I guess it's good I got a 512GB SSD this time around.
