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Forum Discussion
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-...
This is also extremely worrisome to our future as well. We've spent years revolving around this feature and it is absolutely business critical. Without this feature of moving the sync folder anywhere, our entire sector of business will come to a complete stop. We use this feature so much because of the advantages it brings to processing, rendering and handling files locally that we can not do efficiently in the cloud. As of right now, we're being advised to not update the OS and thus the app will not get updated and remove the feature. However when we bring a new computer onboard, we will be forced to use the new OS that the machine ships with and will not be able to run a legacy OS and will be forced into the app version without the folder relocation. This is very worrisome. Without this particular feature, if we're forced to change our workflow, we're probably going to have to change our platform altogether. It would be a tough sell to attempt to use and pay for two different systems. We really don't want to leave Dropbox! You've been so great to us for so long!
Help us Dropbox Team, You're our only hope!
KzDbx
Community Manager
Community ManagerHello everyone. Thank you for your feedback.
We understand that this is a significant pain point for you and your teams that rely on having Dropbox sync on external drives.
Currently, the File Provider API only supports your Dropbox folder in ~/Library/CloudStorage. We are actively working on a solution to support external drives on the updated Dropbox for macOS. While we work to implement a solution, customers who have their Dropbox folder on an external drive will not be migrated to the updated macOS experience. External drive support will continue to work as usual on your current experience.
We will keep you updated when we have more details to share.
"While we work to implement a solution, customers who have their Dropbox folder on an external drive will not be migrated to the updated macOS experience. External drive support will continue to work as usual on your current experience."
Hallelujah! Thank you, Dropbox, for listening.
May I suggest that in the future, for those of us who contacted Customer Support directly, you give us mere mortals confirmation that our feedback is being taken seriously and being passed upwards?
I made an attempt at that and was told outright by the service person that they would not escalate the issue. After asking to escalate the issue 6 times, I was told:
"Charlotte: Unfortunately, I cannot escalate your case, I'm really sorry that I can't help more with this"
As a Business Advanced customer, that's completely unacceptable.
You were ->this<- close to losing us as a customer; in fact we were testing out OneDrive today to see if it'd fit our needs.
Not realizing this was a limitation I upgraded one of my laptops to the new version. Anything saved on the laptop running the new version is not syncing with my main system with external storage. How can I revert my laptop to the old version of DropBox?
Thanks,
Pete
I don't think you can go back to the old version. It auto-updates, and so far as I know DropBox doesn't let you revert to older versions.
As a temporary workaround (and it may be permanent if it works well) I'm now using Mountain Duck for syncing to my external drive:
- Thank you 👍🏻
THANK GOODNESS!!!
This issue had me spinning out for days, now, hardly allowing me to think of anything else, because it would have impacted my workflow gravely, or rather, made it impossible to work with my clients and sub-contractor as I had been for over a decade.
Finally, there is hope that this will all be taken care of in due time, and my files are safe on my external NVMe's, in the meantime. I had just invested over $2000 in external RAID and NVMe storage solutions to replace the spinning drives that previously held my 2,2TB Dropbox file library, and was overjoyed to finally use them as if they were stored on internal storage...and then the bad news, which made my heart sink.
Thank you for giving this the urgent care it deserves and working on avoiding a mass exodus from Dropbox to...well...where would we go?- Wonderful news! Thank you for listening, we look forward to more details. JC
What is the advantage of the File Provider API ?
I hope you will solve this problem soon. This would be a deal breaker for me and my business and I'd need to cancel my pro account.
Can I just clarify one thing? We have updated one Mac Studio to Ventura 13.2 and Dropbox Sync is still working to an external 16TB GRaid SSD. Should that be the case?
Just to reinforce what others have said, if it is no longer possible to be able to use an external volumes to sync, this is a massive problem for us. We daily sync TBs of material up and down all over the world, and have built a very robust workflow around this at The BBC. All our paths are the same, for each member of the team eg. VOLUMES/CLICK DROPBOX and those drives are external. Even a 4TB internal Volume will not work, for many of us as we need much more headroom.
I know that Apple have their reasons for doing this, not least security, but with millions of users relying on Dropbox Sync for their workflows, it seems inconceivable that Dropbox can't come up with a solution/ workaround.
If we can get clarity on Ventura still working with external Dropbox Sync that would be good, many thanks."Even a 4TB internal Volume will not work, for many of us as we need much more headroom."
Glad to see I'm not the only one using 16TB SSD. Dropbox would fix the situation by simply offering more storage space so that we can all use large SSDs (internal in my case). But it seems that Dropbox in 2023 still lags 10 years behind in terms of what their customers need. 3/4TB hard limits are ridiculously low plans for any serious professional out there.
I don't think that's issue at all we have 30PetaBytes available to us! This is one of, where it get's stored. Of all the cloud syncing services Dropbox is really the best out there for ease of use and reliability. I can't really fault it. We are syncing Terabytes of stuff continually. Apple have changed their frameworks, they no doubt have good reason, as they are rightly obsessed with security. Dropbox will hopefully respond with a solution soon.
First of all - THANK YOU for working on a solution for this issue.
Second - Dropbox is located internally on some of our devices and externally on some devices. It sounds like internally located Dropbox apps will be automatically updated to the new app version. As you say, the externally located Dropbox apps won't be updated automatically (again, thank you). Will there be syncing issues between the different versions of Dropbox apps that will be on our different devices?
NewStudio this a disaster for me. I updated a laptop I use on the road and now my main machine is not syncing anything created on the laptop. It will sync from the old version to the new version but not the opposite way. My workflow is trashed. I'm looking for an alternative as I find it unacceptable for the company not having an immediate fix to this. Some posted fixes that require using a second application, but is this really acceptable? What is DropBox thinking!!!!????
Didnt I read somewhere that Db is pausing this rollout as the complaints from people like us helped?
Or was I just dreaming?
Im still working ok with the external drive...
Beware if you are setting up a new machine. While doing a restore/data migration to a machine I was using as a loaner, the Dropbox app forced the change. I've two computers running latest Mac OS and DB applications (DB v168.4.4802 Mac OS 13.1.) and while doing a data migration coping one to a temporary machine (for a repair loner period on one computer) the new computer forced the update disabling external drive usage after the data migration. The two existing machines did not force the change yet,
Due to my business workflow of working with large amounts of data (larger than the internal drives of my computers) I'll need to find another service if Dropbox can't find a way to make this work...
Another major gripe is if my external drive where my DB folder lives becomes disconnected, DB needs to NOT delete my entire Dropbox account. Have had this happen 2-3 times now and most recently it took support and the restorations team 7-9 days to restore my account, where I was waiting 24 hours per reply from the restore team. While I'm grateful for the restore team's help, it was unacceptable it took over a week to get my data back while paying $300 a year for Dropbox.
Dropbox if you can't fix these two issues, I have to move on and you'll lose a 10+ year customer.
Fortunately I am not in as deep trouble as some of these users bc I do store my dropbox folder on my main drive. But I am confused by this error message and I don't want my Dropbox to disappear into the system folder. I use it constantly. I don't want all the fancy bells and whistles, I have enjoyed the consistency and simplicity pf Dropbox for many years. So when I accept this change what will happen? My dropbox folder currently resides on my desktop. I use it to keep special files that I want to be sure are backed up in two places and also occasionally to share. I would like to continue that familiar scenario.
Furthermore, I certainly feel the other users pain. Someday I might need to store my Dropbox folder on an external drive.
As a matter of fact we also have subscription to another company that I assume is a competitor to Dropbox. My partner likes using them for file transfers, and it's true they have a good experience for those sending and receiving files, but I find Dropbox' simple integration with my system perfect and hope they remember that further complication is not necessarily good.
However to give credit due . . . I have not clicked the update button and everything seems to be working as usual for now.
This is exactly how I got here 🙂 When I read the "learn more" it freaked me out (even though I don't use it externally). And I'm still confused about why some folders show up as being in the dropbox while they shouldn't be there... and I'm confused as to why all the desktop and docs on my computer aren't being saved in the iCloud though I have that clicked. It's been three days and there are still items loading ...
Just so I full understand where we are now. If I buy a new Mac today, can I *currently* install my dropbox folder on an external drive, whilst they try & fix this messy situation?
Hi, one solution is: Go to the original (new) location of the Dropbox folder, then highlight the folder, then right click (two fingers on the touchpad) and select "make alias". Drag the alias to your desktop wherever you want it, and voila!
The alias doesn't solve the problem.. the problem is many people who are concerned have terabytes of data on their external drives and not enough space on their internal drives. The alias link doesn't solve that.
This is such a big issue to me and the failure on the part of dropbox so enormous by not getting ahead of this, that I have just now opened an account at a different provider as well to test them.
To be honest, I don't think they are quite as fast as dropbox. But they appear to be far more secure which is also very important to me. Dropbox is anything but secure. Meaning, dropbox in their policies, says that they can read and even give your content to trusted third parties. The question I have is "trusted" according to whom? I probably would not agree with who they think is trusted with my private information.
I have already canceled my year membership with dropbox and gone to a month to month. If this test works as it has so far, then I will be canceling dropbox altogether. Our company has already canceled all services with them at my prompting.
Another huge negative for me is the "woke" nonsense that dropbox spews. They actually have a manager who is white, who claims to find it better to hire people of other colors than white people. This is racist plain, period, and simple. I wrote to them several times and they just dismissed everything I had to say about it. Choosing people based on their qualifications and ability to do their job should be the deciding factor. Nothing else. I am from a mixed race family and this is how we all feel. It is all about the qualification and ability to do the job - not color. This gives all of us a fair chance. I am very much hoping the maxim here applies... "Go woke, go broke".
So I am looking for any possible alternative so that I don't have to deal with the dropbox failure to actually do their job and make sure that our programs are protected. I'm looking to make sure that our service is safe and stable and not trying to put everything onto our primary Drive regardless of what Apple says. There are always workarounds available, and not notifying us in advance and simply throwing up some comment to it that I had to stumble onto to even find.
I sense my time is extremely short with them. Maybe even days. I hope. They have crossed the line far too many times in far too many egregious ways.
Dropbox, I am only one person. But you have created a whirlwind of a mess around you. I for one am out of here as fast as I possibly can. You no longer are deserving of my business. Frankly you haven't been for a long time. Your failure to deal with these issues, address my concerns of your racism and stay in front of these problems with timely notice to us, is beyond the pale.
Clearly I don't matter. You have made that abundantly clear. But I do believe all the people posting here do matter to you. And I think it's time you take this seriously.
For those who are interested in trying something different. I would suggest trying sync dot com. If you have two or more users, you can get an unlimited plan, unlimited storage that cost less than most any plan from dropbox. It does not seem quite as fast. But it is far more secure. It also does not force you to use your primary drive. It is also plenty fast enough.
You brought this on your own head, dropbox. And by the way, stop falsely marking this as solved. This issue is not solved until you do your job and provide us with answers and solutions as so many here have instructed you to do.
Hi,
I'd just like to add my 5 cents here - as a QA principal on various softwares for the past dozen of years:
1) Communication about change is very unclear
I got notification today, stating that I shall update - but then - you'll move MY data to a more secure place on my hard drive. Like - NO.
That is marketing team sugar coated BS.
Reading all this, I understand this is driven by Apple (who took "Documents", "Pictures" and few other folders already, and reserved them for iCloud only - to push you to use iCloud and sync with iCloud and pay iCloud, but that's another topic of Apple being Apple and people not giving them proper attribution and demand changes) but Dropbox is your product - so YOU have some obligations towards your paid customers and you need to be clear.
There are no Why's and "What if I can't do that"? - Yes, there's a link to a text, but again - it does not say anything except that "if you don't update you'll not get the latest experience"? What? I wasn't aware Dropbox was experience ... I had it as a daemon, background task that is syncing my stuff from folders I've chosen to the cloud. No - I'm not letting Dropbox/Apple organise my hard drive. Are you insane?
2) You are paid service - let's not forget about it. Use some of that money to keep your customers happy and push Apple to reason?3) It's not clear - If I update MacOS from Monterey (now) to Ventura (wanted to do it tonight) - Will Dropbox app be updated automatically and will I loose my data that is not in "proper local location"?
If not - can I update to Ventura and keep old dropbox with old setup - and will it all work the same? (just without "Modern experience" whatever that is)
If everything will still work with Ventura and old DropBox app - how long will you support old app?
All these questions and clarifications are needed from Dropbox - and you simply didn't provide them. Paid service.I was postponing getting Apple One because I was lazy, and I have everything on DropBox, and "I don't want to lock myself to Apple only" - but - If you can't handle things, and can't properly communicate - maybe I should just move to Apple then? Not willingly, but... it will be cheaper in the end and with less hassle.
