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.

[fjazzfjazz]

That is the most scary scenario I've heard this whole time. @dropbox , is it true that 10.13 and above OS will make that when Dropbox upgrades it will start moving all files to a internal HD location? 

[ArthurPix]

@fjazzfjazz @UKD @melking @Bookpast I asked the Help Desk on Sync.com about the migration path and received an answer within an hour. Here's what I was told:

Migrating your files to Sync is as easy as dragging and dropping the folder into Sync. You can learn more here: https://www.sync.com/help/how-do-i-move-my-files-from-dropbox-to-sync/

________________________________________________________________________

Upgrade to a Pro plan, risk free - all Pro plans come with a 30 day full money-back guarantee. 
 
Upgrade here: 
https://cp.sync.com/account/getspace
 
Let us know if you have any other questions. 

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I just tried out these instructions by moving a half-Gig folder full of PDF receipts. It executed quickly and, as much as I can ascertain by my tests, the files transferred accurately. I'll be investigating more throughly in the ensuing days and will report back on my results.

A couple of caveats:

1. When I first installed the SYNC desktop app, I was concerned because I couldn't find any icon on my desktop menu or in my dock. I subsequently discovered that the icon was there, but that I had too many icons for it to show. After removing a number of icons from my menu, I saw it, and used the CMD key plus my trackpad to move it toward the left side of the menu.

2. I can't find any settings to show the icon in. my dock. People using 27" monitors shouldn't experience any trouble showing th SYNC icon on the desktop menu, but if you have a 14" or smaller laptop, watch out for this.

[psalcal]

I continue to get more and more surprised about Dropbox.. allowing us to talk freely about competitors here is crazy, especially without addressing their long term plans for this.  This message board seems just crazy dysfunctional.  I wonder how many people are ready to pull the trigger on Sync in a moment?  I'm one.  I have a Sync.com account but it's the free version.  I may move there depending on Dropbox. Your move Dropbox... but don't take too long.  

[TheMainOne]

@psalcal 

Hey there's my friend. Yes, I would sure agree with you that dropbox seems dysfunctional. But that would be my opinion of them overall. This is simply their latest manifestation of it.

From what I have heard, sync.com is benefiting from this snafu significantly. Although I haven't heard any numbers. So one would have to guess what significantly means. 

Our company sure did go there and I have been thrilled. We pay $30 a month for two people in total. This gives us unlimited storage. It is slower than dropbox but I am doing just fine with it. Takes a little bit of getting used to but if a person doesn't have a huge number of terabytes, it could work out pretty well for them. 

I'm glad to see you considering this. And hope all is well for you. 

[UKD]

@TheMainOne I am curious when you say slower, what is slower?

I am looking at archiving a huge amount of our files on to my NAS and the rest of the files we use to stay on cloud. Speed. Uptime and accessibility are our main goals and my team are spread in Europe and Asia.

My video guys have some hefty file sizes so the speed is quite important.

[jmeredi2]

Sync caps the speed at 40 Mbps.

[ArthurPix]

@UKD I have also found the speed on Sync.com to be quite good.

[ArthurPix]

@UKD I have also found the speed on Sync.com to be quite good. I have encountered problems but Sio far they are the usual ones I get when adjusting to a new service. More later.

[UKD]

@ArthurPix I am also trying them out. I have decided to keep a huge amount of files on my NAS as an archive and only have online our active working files.

Going for the Pro Teams Unlimited version as we use a lot of space.

From what I can see the interface is a little basic in comparison to Dropbox's but that's OK. We'll get used to it and as long as we can share multiple files etc etc then I'm ok with that. Obviously you can do more with the online portal.

I've already communicated with my team about the possible impending change and they all just lurved that idea... not!! I am so looking forward to migrating everything over. Thanks a lot Dropbox.

Watch this space.... and I'll communicate back my progress

[fjazzfjazz]

@UKD one thing I am curious about Sync.com

With Dropbox, all my producers and clients have it also. They generate media assets and specific software that read those assets, and they share it with my Dropbox. So we can work from the same software, referencing media assets, locally. 

Can Sync.com do this? I mean, do all my clients and producers also need to have Sync.com if we want all parties to work on software that reference media assets locally?

Thanks