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]

Not trying to change minds, but trying to raise awareness? How is that working for you so far? I wonder how successful it might be to use dropbox forums to make a political point?

Any good social justice warrior is able to tell when they’re making a difference or not. Not so sure you’re doing a whole lotta good here friend.

[TheMainOne]

@psalcal

seems to be working really well since you are helping so much. I can’t thank you enough for your friendship and your help. Please do, keep on.

And I would love to have any additional help that anyone would like to give who is really fed up with what this company has done. I have two things I’m fed up about. But if only we concentrate on their failure to communicate effectively with us and provide the service that we all need, that will work.

Really do appreciate your help and commitment to seeing my desire of spreading the word increase. Thanks again.

And by the way, I don’t consider what I’m doing political. I know you might. But we likely would not share the same definition.

[psalcal]

Keep the battle for justice going. But don’t stop here. Let it rip across the entire internet. I believe in you.

[TheMainOne]

@psalcal

no, with your help we will tackle what’s going on right here.

But I think it’s time to begin talking about how this company has a white manager who openly talks about how she would rather hire a black person regardless of their qualifications.

Being a mixed family ourselves, we find this ridiculous. All of us would prefer to be able to be hired based on our abilities which is the only thing we can really do anything about it. We can’t help our skin color.

I have asked the company to explain their position over and over and they don’t respond. When talking with their customer service they refused to address this.

I’d like to know what actions have been taken against this manager to ensure fairness will be the way the company is run from here on out.

Thank you @psalcal for keeping this alive so that more people can see it here.

Would appreciate anybody else who is disgusted by this like we are to also join in and demand a response from the company.

[UKD]

@TheMainOne

It seems you like hijacking threads for your own personal goals. Whatever your beliefs or opinions are on the matter, this thread specifically is about the lack of ability to use external storage in the upcoming release of Dropbox.

So… for what I can see from other peoples comments let me lay this down nice and easy for you. Do your SJW work somewhere else. This thread is not the right place. Whether anybody agrees or disagrees with you is entirely up to them. Most of us live in countries that give us the freedom to have and give our opinions without fear of repercussions.

So me being nice and polite, take your message elsewhere and let those who use this thread for the title of the thread continue onwards without having to read your SJW comments and deal with your personal activism on against the company for something that has nothing to do with you. If this offends you, then sorry snowflake but maybe you should crawl in to your feather laden soft bubble where there’s no sharp edges and people speak softly at you whilst spooning you your food and wiping your ar*e with the softest toilet paper in the world.

[KyleKoch]

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.

That said …

Can we just keep this topic focused on what it’s supposed to be about and not flood it with completely unrelated info.

It’s not cool to hijack a thread. Bad form all the way around. It’s very disrespectful to the people here who are looking for specific technical answers. We don’t want to wade through unrelated info, thanks.

Please and thank you!

[psalcal]

"Would appreciate anybody else who is disgusted by this like we are to also join in and demand a response from the company."

Tap tap tap.. is this thing on?  Helloooo????   Is there anybody out there?  

[cvrasoan]

need a solution fast -- I have 360 gb on my External Dropbox ssd -- and in the internal Mac mini drive only 150gb free -- need to point to the old ssd dropbox folder

[UKD]

@cvrasoan can't you do selective syncing so that only certain files are permanently downloaded? 

This is quite a small folder so it doesn't seem like it's a major problem. Most of us with this issue have TB's of data rather than GB's.

Also, the external drive issue doesn't kick in until Dropbox actually release their new version, so for now you're ok with your external drive situation unless you're on their Beta version.

[cvrasoan]

yes that is a good idea but I need some folders suddenly and the Internet connection bandwidth issues are there -- so it is better to have all the files on external hdd -

it was working till I bought new Mac mini m2 pro and used data migration from my previous Mac book pro I7 with external SSD