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Jon C.10's avatar
Jon C.10
Collaborator | Level 8
2 years ago

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...
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  • BenDBX's avatar
    BenDBX
    4 months ago
    Hi Everybody,
     
    We’re excited to share that external drive support for Dropbox for macOS on File Provider is now available for testing as a beta feature. This is available to some users today and will be available to additional users on a rolling basis. In order to be eligible to test this feature, please follow the instructions in this Help Center article. 
     
    Keep in mind that participation in beta programs is subject to the certain terms and conditions. There are certain additional participation requirements:
    • This beta is only available to US-based users
    • You must be on macOS 15 beta
    • You must have an external drive that is APFS formatted and encrypted
     
    Please let me know if you have any further questions!
psalcal's avatar
psalcal
Collaborator | Level 10

Hey everyone.  I just had a chat with dropbox tech support.  They are reporting they have ZERO plans to support external drives going forward on the Mac.  None.  There is NO path forward for us, according to tech support.  That is their official position.  

May I suggest we use this thread to discuss alternative options?  

EDIT:  Bad move Dropbox to move this into a thread, to bury it.  UGH.  Very bad move.  

What I know now:  

Google Drive DOES currently have a way of using external drives.  It involves running a script in Terminal, but I'm using it for work and it DOES work.  I don't love Google Drive though for my own personal use, it's always been less reliable than Dropbox and slower.  

 

iCloud Drive:  probably doesn't support external drives, AND it is not set up for similar use.  It doesn't appear to always download and keep a directory "fresh" and complete when it's changed by others.  

Box.com:  Confirmed no support for external drives.  

iSync:  I have a question in to them.  

Are there any other cloud services I should be considering?  Thank you... 

Anyone have experience with sync.com doing audio and video work?    

MottoW's avatar
MottoW
Helpful | Level 6
2 years ago

Currently looking into sync.com, lacks contextual menus, but does allow for installation to external drive. Google drive is not great and iCloud is buggy and Ive lost data using it. 

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