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.

[psalcal]

If anyone knows they aren’t telling. I think the last official announcements were apple needs to fix it and then there was a follow up later that said Dropbox was looking for a solution and people could use the other version which allows external drives for the time being.

[jaesm]

Lot's of you are talking about file provider and keeping old versions and workarounds. Are you talking about an enterprise version? I run a small music studio and I just downloaded the latest home version of Dropbox; I'm on the latest macos and I haven't had to do anything special. It just has the option to pick an external drive now. I really wish an employee would chime in but since crowdsourcing is their idea of customer service, I won't hold my breath. Haha.

[ms25]

I believe the installer is not using Apple File Provider by default now. If it asks you to update, don't do it. Still not a real fix, to the best of my knowledge... just using the old kernel extensions still, which Apple will drop with an update at some unknown date.

[Richard Schletty]

My procedure (posted above) worked for me because I had unwittingly upgraded to "Dropbox for macOS on File Provider" several months ago – before Dropbox finally stopped prompting certain Dropbox users to upgrade. The advice I gave is a way to "downgrade" and allow storage on an external drive.

If you visit the link I gave in my above post, you will see an explanation from Dropbox:

https://help.dropbox.com/installs/dropbox-for-macos-support

Notes:

• We’re working directly with a small subset of macOS users with complex configurations to ensure their migration is as seamless as possible. 
• Some macOS users with complex configurations—like those storing their Dropbox folder on an external drive—won’t be migrated at this time. These users will continue on their existing Dropbox experience.

[jahshwa]

It seems like you are saying that Dropbox should still work with my external drive because it hasn't been migrated to the MacOS experience (as terrible as that is) — but for me, all my Dropbox functionality is destroyed. I have to physically sync each file manually if I want to see my files stored in Dropbox. In other words, I'm now paying for absolute garbage. 

I do hope that a solution is found. I'm curious if anyone has found another product that can sync to externals. Anyone? I heard it's largely an issue arising from Apple, which isn't surprising... I'm also using OneDrive and GoogleDrive. 

Thanks everyone! We do hope to have a functioning Dropbox or Dropbox alternative soon! This has really destroyed our work flow as well. 

[Bluebicycle]

External syncing does still work on the latest MacOS as long as you don’t migrate to File Provider.

Apple are a huge company and security is paramount to them. It’s reasonable that they have concerns about how secure files can be on external drives, so they changed the API, so that it’s managed within the Mac itself.

File Provider makes syncing unworkable for many of us as the internal drives cannot accommodate the storage headroom to work.

Dropbox are also a huge company 600 million users, it’s now on them to find a solution and I’m sure they will.

Meanwhile Just don’t migrate to File Provider it’s that simple.

[jahshwa]

Greetings,

I'm wondering if you have found any working alternative? Has Dropbox fixed anything or have you found another service? 

Thanks for any suggestions!

I'd like to get back to work.

Josh

[jahshwa]

Do you know of an alternative service that will allow it? I thought it was Apple's fault, so i'm wondering if we just have to all move to Windows. Yuck. 

[ArthurPix]

@jahshwa I’ve posted about this previously, but I am now using a service called Sync.com, which is not perfect, but terrific for my needs. It’s based in Canada and committed to supporting users with external drives. One other user found their service too slow for his very heavy needs, but I’m very comfortable with them, YMMV, but you may want to give Sync.com a shot.

[jahshwa]

Ewwww... looks like someone has bought into the "Just World Fallacy" — we don't live in a meritocracy. Your ignorance is showing.