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.

[millifoo]

@Jamesgangcc 

"Why spend more money if you don't have to? Oh, right. The American way. The whole point of this cloud business is so you DON"T have to buy a huge internal, right?"

That's one reason, yes. But no the only one:

We use cloud sync with our external huge drives to allow collaboration with audio/video editing.  The workflow for lots of media houses with people who collaborate in multiple locations requires files be local (speed of editing and playback), and sync through the cloud not only facilitates that, it also backs up all the files in case of catastrophe.

[Jamesgangcc]

Thanks, but that doesn't answer my question. No matter, I'm halfway through moving the files to an external for now, and will find another cloud solution. My monthly gets charged on the 28th. I'll use the $130/yr somewhere else. It appears, for my needs, the Googly will be about $40/yr. I'll have canceled by then. I use it rarely, as I say, more for storage, and whenever I go on to "just simply" share a file or folder, it's a labryinth of download, compile, move, upload, save, try and share, share only this way, share if they have an account... don't even try to find where "delete" is hidden. I don't need to be paying for all the bells and whistles I have to navigate through to save and file in the cloud or send to someone maybe 5 times a year. Enough. They can continue upgrading and changing and selling every 90 days to others. 

I assume this is a solution. 

[Jamesgangcc]

@tillkrueger It's so absurd we have to use emojis ... but "social" media has made simply conversation via typing so hard to read, right? I had no issue with what your wrote; I assume your apology was directed to someone else in the thread. Have a great day and thanks for your share. 

[tillkrueger]

Because my Mac Mini only has 512GB, internally, and I don’t have the money to “just get” a 2TB Mac Mini, when this one works perfectly well. I am surprised that you would laugh about people who can’t “just” spend a couple thousand bucks on a whim, to solve an issue that can be solved with a $200 external SSD. Wish I had your deep pockets.

But let’s just keep the personal comments at bay and try to focus on the issue at hand, again: an official Db solution to Apple’s Cloud API changes.

[tillkrueger]

Yes, someone took offense, so thank you for saying that.

[Jamesgangcc]

Exactly. I'll probably be leaving this thread soon (that I personally started) because I really never got a confirmation on my solution (though it appears putting everything online only if you can swing that, is the answer). However, as I say, I'm just over Dropbox and their constant manipulation. I seriously just need extra storage and way to share something occasionally that is large. There are even "freebies" online that can do that now. In a way, I'm glad this has shown up and lit the fire for me to finally stop giving them tons of money when there are other obvious solutions for me. 

[millifoo]

@Jamesgangcc

“Exactly. I'll probably be leaving this thread soon (that I personally started)”

Hi James, I’m actually pretty confused… DropBox shows @JonC as starting this thread. Maybe they merged two threads together?

I’m actually glad you have other solutions for your use case. I’ve been looking as well (for mine) but haven’t found one. OneDrive washed out: it barfs with certain files.

[Jamesgangcc]

@millifoo  Actually, I believe you're right about the original thread. I forgot that I actually joined the thread vs getting a lot of answers to my question. Have a great day. I hope Dropbox realizes there are lot of annoyed people and at least fix this problem. I don't think they can go back to the olden days though when it was very simple to share, delete, save and move. 🙂 

[shinbeth]

@millifoo 

"We use cloud sync with our external huge drives to allow collaboration with audio/video editing. The workflow for lots of media houses with people who collaborate in multiple locations requires files be local (speed of editing and playback), and sync through the cloud not only facilitates that, it also backs up all the files in case of catastrophe."

That's absolutely my point. No SSD external disk (take SanDisk v2, 2000/sec at best vs. 6-7000/sec for my M2 Macbook Max) can be as fast as local SSDs as of today.

External disks are not an option for professionals because we need the utmost speed of editing and playback indeed while working simultaneously across teams. Same happens when I use large and heavy audio banks such as Kontakt while producing music, I cannot afford to use external disks and rather invest my money in a single huge local SSD to have it all + easily backed up by Dropbox in real time.

So Dropbox I don't really care that you stop syncing external disks but EXTEND THE PERSONAL/PRO PLANS from their currently very limited 2/3/4TB hard limits to 10/20/30TB just the way Google Drive and other competitors have moved to. And don't mention Dropbox Business which sucks balls since it creates a different 3-user repository folder and kind of structure which I've tried before and messes things up. Just simply expand your storage plan and pricing accordingly for 2023 use in developed countries, not just India needs with 200GB plans lol, thanks.

[shinbeth]

@tillkrueger 

Well then you should have invested in a better education, to get a better job and more money. No one can help you here if you can't even afford a basic internal drive that caters for your needs.