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.

[shinbeth]

@psalcal 

I've tried 8 different cloud services including those you mentioned, and Dropbox both personally, professionally and even as part of working for larger companies that were using Dropbox too.

Nothing comes as good as Dropbox in terms of usability, that's a fact. So we have to stick to it.

But I wish they could finally upgrade their product it's been a while since it's been the same I see no new features and upgrades.

Ideally yes it should support any kind of external sync. It should offer more space. So let's keep pushing them into the right direction and they will finally become the ideal cloud service we all wish they were.

[jmeredi2]

Does anyone know if moving the user folder over to an external drive would solve this issue? I tried this and it seems to work so far, but my DropBox has not yet been transferred over to the new version, so I'm not positive it will work once that switchover happens.

[jmeredi2]

I just tried moving my user folder to my external 40TB RAID drive, and so far it's working. This is a desktop computer, so if you're on a laptop you'd have to have an alternate account when logging in with the hard drive disconnected. It's working so far, but my DropBox hasn't yet been updated to the new version, so I can't say for sure it will continue working once the switchover happens in the coming months. Has anyone else, who has already been upgraded to the new DropBox, tried this method?

[millifoo]

It’ll technically work, but unless you have a beefy Thunderbolt SSD, you’re paying a performance penalty for for living on a spinning-rust hard drive again.

[jmeredi2]

Definitely not a perfect solution, but might at least make our 30TB DropBox usable, even if speed is impacted. Just hoping, like everyone else, that DB will come up with something better.

[MottoW]

Just got an email stating that with the update external drives won’t be supported. Indeed a disaster and a dealbreaker for my whole workflow. Actively looking for an alternative service

[shinbeth]

@jmeredi2 

Just curious what sort of plan do you have for 30TB Dropbox sync? The Advanced Business plan, or the Entreprise plan? How much do you pay monthly (per user, and total) and did you have to set up a 3-user repository folder that is different vs. the normal Dropbox folder of the Personal and Pro plans? So it's like having 3 users anyway even if you're alone?

Cheers and good luck.

[shinbeth]

@MottoW 

Just curious - how much data had your stored on your external device(s)?

Is this a new 'official' e-mail from Dropbox received yesterday, and/or a new notification in the app?

The only 'good thing' (I know it's terrible news for you guys) out of this story would be that Dropbox would be forced to finally offer more space vs. their current plans, because for all of you guys 3TB won't cut it anymore. Like how come Google Drive easily provides 10TB, 20TB and 30TB extensions within a minute, and Dropbox only has 2TB and 3TB (+1TB extra max) that's beyond my understanding.

Good luck to all!

[solldavid]

Hi Shinbeth, we have the advanced plan and are up to 200+ TB of assets in the Dropbox cloud, all visible and searchable in OSX Finder via “online-only”, and restorable with a full bandwidth dow load. It’s the best product in the industry imo. Yes, you need a minimum of three “users”.

Unfortunately, on topic with the thread, this change from Apple and Dropbox threatens my whole workflow. We keep 3-6TB available offline at a time to keep large video, GFX, and 3D files in sync across remote workstations, and we’ve been doing it with external SSDs successfully since 2012. It’s been the cornerstone of our workflow, super reliable, plenty fast, and I don’t know what I would have done without it…

[MottoW]

I have 2TB on my external devices. It was an official mail from Dropbox announcing the updated app.