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.

[UKD]

sorry but I can't help you with that. I'm moving all my files away from Dropbox because of this but I hold TBs of files and folders.

Maybe someone else can help.

[cvrasoan]

Thanks UKD 

Any idea when a solution is coming from Dropbox

and which cloud service are you migrating your data

regards

[Ru 1971]

I've been testing Sync.com on a couple of my machines, & it works pretty well. The only issue I have is that it interferes with the 'green/blue syncing checkbox' for my dropbox folder. I.e When Sync.com is running, I can't see the online/offline/sync status of my dropbox files in the finder.

I've tested this on an Intel & M1 Mac (both still on Monterey 12.6.5) & its the same behaviour in both cases.

Are other Sync.com testers having this issue too?

Would be great if anyone from Dropbox cared to comment on this thread, as I've got about a month to decide whether to jump ship before my subscription renews.

[TheMainOne]

@Michael C.121 

Hi Michael,

Thank you for your thoughts. I appreciate them. A well reasoned response is certainly helpful.

As you might know if you look over this thread, I have been very active on both sides of this. And I will continue.

My first issue actually is the one you suggested I take elsewhere. I do appreciate your suggestion. 

I have been more vocal from the beginning about the issue of them not being responsible towards us, their customers by the way they've handled this debacle regarding having to shift to our primary drives. 

Both issues are important to me. I really don't like giving money to an organization that treat people the way they do and allows their managers to make decisions that have nothing to do with capability. I realize it is my decision and mine only to make regarding what I feel comfortable giving people money for. But in today's day and age when companies are espouse in their policies openly, and by that I mean regarding green energy and other such things, I also will maintain my right to espouse what I think is correct.

Thank you at least for being considerate and professional in your communication. This is something I have also tried hard to do. Your reference to my use of the word woke is not meant as a pejorative but more as a way of simply describing a way of doing business that I am not in favor of. But it's easier to describe it in one word which seems reasonably accurate, than to try to write a number of paragraphs to say the same thing. 

Well for the most part I am not in favor of woke anything, I'm also not putting down those that are. If one wants to associate with that, that's fine. I don't think any less of them as a person. 

I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to express more of the way I feel and the way I am intending to communicate. 

[UKD]

@cvrasoan nobody knows. Dropbox says one thing and then a month later extends the deadline. This is why a lot of us are bailing out. Incompetence at the highest level.

@Ru 1971 I did have a similar issue and I had quite a lot of folders synced, but as I've copied them over to sync.com and then de-synced them on my computer from the Dropbox account (I have left them on cloud for the moment as a backup temporality) then I noticed the icons started to re-appear. Now I am gonna shock you and tell you it's a known issue with Dropbox. Something to do with overloading of active icons. I can't remember the precise wording so don't flame me but it's something to with the integration of Dropbox and Finder. If I remember correctly I found it out with a long search.

[psalcal]

I’m not sure I would use two sync services in the same directory. Seems like a bad idea.

[TheMainOne]

@psalcal 

Yes, trying to raise awareness. And it's working fantastic. Look, because of your help, we have more people participating. Whether they agree or not, the point is being made and for that I am thankful for your help 

So let me clarify again for you and all those reading. 

I jumped on this bandwagon when I realized that the service that I was paying for was going to be eliminated and that I had to do something. My primary Drive is not big enough to handle my dropbox materials. I felt the way the company handled this was really bad. And I wanted to call a lot of attention to it. And it looks like that is working well. Not just because of me by any means, thanks also to you and all the others that are contributing. 

And my way of seeing things, there are a number of ways that a company can go wrong. And this company seems to have chosen numerous of them. Again, I'm talking only about my way of seeing things. Do you know the old saying, "get woke, go broke". And while I'm not sure that they are close to going broke, I do think they are bleeding pretty badly from a number of the mistakes they have made. 

Personally, I would love to see them correct these mistakes. I would love to see them find an answer to the issue regarding having to use our primary Drive. And I would love to be a customer again and feel safe that they are actually taking care of their customers, of which I was one. 

There is another issue that I'd like to bring up as well. Since I have switched to Sync.com I have found myself feeling better about privacy. As you know, dropbox has not been leading the pack on this issue either. They openly state that nothing is private and they have access to everything. That does not give me warm fuzzies at night. Maybe it does you, I'm not sure. (Nor do I really care about any one person.) 

By the way, let me expound for a moment on my use of the term "drop your box". I'd rather laugh at all of these issues then anything else. At least laughing raises my spirits. It seems to be a good way of dealing with difficulties. And to me it was really a difficulty to move our company away from dropbox. To me the term "drop your box" expresses exactly what this company has done. They have dropped a number of critical issues, critical to me I should state. As such, I am making sure the world continues to know the way I feel about it. I'm not screaming for a manager or any of the other things you have declared yourself to be an expert on that you referred to as "SJW". I'm simply raising awareness of what this company has done so that people have every possible reason to move elsewhere. 

So there are numerous issues that all hinge around this company's policies that I will continue to discuss.

Thank you for joining in on this with me. Your support is most appreciated. Another thing I really appreciate is your professionalism, at least for the most part. Thank you for doing your best. 

[Ru 1971]

@psalcal >I’m not sure I would use two sync services in the same directory. Seems like a bad idea.

For what its worth, Dropbox & Sync.com folders are on separate drives & share no data, but one still interferes with the GUI of the other

[TheMainOne]

Hi @UKD 

Far from it actually. I guess maybe you need to look back over this thread and see all of my contributions to the exact issue you mention. Forcing us to use our primary drive. That has been my focus. And if you look at the writings I have just posted, you will see my full intention.

One thing I personally appreciate is when people write professionally and communicate in such a way that is not offensive. I have done my best to do this and will continue. I won't call you names and I won't try to belittle you. 

So you know, I have three main issues. 

1. Forcing us to use our primary drive to use dropbox. That has been what most of my writing has been about. 

2. A policy of insubordination to their customers. This includes not responding to issues of fairness. 

3. Issues of privacy.

I have and will continue to write on all of these issues. 

Writing to me the way you did will simply cause me to be more vocal in my expression of what I think is correct. So please, let's keep the party going. And I'm grateful for your help. 

[TheMainOne]

@KyleKoch 

You wrote: "I do appreciate leveraging purchasing power to influence corporate good governance. I’d also suggest if you want to make positive change, it starts with dialogue that invites participation rather than alienates through condemnation."

I could not agree more with this. Thank you for your voice on this issue as well. Good governance is what I think is correct. 

To set the story straight, I have from the beginning then my level best to ask, seemingly dozens of times for answers. To this day I have not got them. On any of the issues that I'm concerned with. I have not condemned in the beginning. I asked and asked and asked some more. But never was any acceptable answer forthcoming. In fact, for the most part they have shunned all of us. 

I am concerned with their "good governance" of three primary issues. 

1. Answers regarding why they were not out in front of the issue requiring us to use our primary drive. Why do we have to hear about this  indirectly? Why weren't they forthcoming in getting ahead of the issue and notifying all of their clients? What specifically is being done about this? We don't have any good answers on any of this. And I can only assume based on what you wrote that you don't like it either. 

2. I don't think it is "good governance" to treat people in a racist manner. And I will continue to let people know about this issue. And I will do my best to make sure that I'm talking about number one above more than anything. 

3. I believe that privacy is also an important issue. One of "good governance" in the way our data is being handled. All of these together equal that the company to me is not exercising "good governance". I think you hit it right on the head with the use of this term.

Thank you for participating and helping to keep all of this alive. In general, I agree with you overall. I'm writing because all together, these three issues concern me. For those that don't agree with the other issues I have, ignore them. 

I believe calling a spade a spade is correct. I realize we won't all agree. That's fine with me. Nor do I intend to change minds. I intend to raise awareness. I think a lot of people think like we do. Even if we don't agree on all things we can agree on a bunch of them. And even if it's just one thing then our voices together are making a difference in my opinion.

Thank you for weighing in on this. I think we need more voices. Personally, I'd really like to get some answers that are real answers to these issues.