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Forum Discussion
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://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.
Don't know if this will help some of you out there. I didn't "send for brochure" or send an email because it won't work for me. And I don't want to be called by a salesperson into infinity. If Dropbox gets squirrelly that I shared a link, Google "Best Cloud Storage" and search for Seagate. There are others but this apparently allows for collaboration, etc.
I was able to use a Time Machine backup and revert to a date before I upgraded to the new version that doesn't allow external drives.
It seems that moving from Mac to Linux might make more sense than giving up Dropbox. Is that feasible? If I installed Linux on my Mac computers, could I move all my Dropbox files over?
Please let's not have this marked as "solved" when the solution is kicking the can down the road. This is NOT "solved" to me. Please don't mark this is "solved" until you at Dropbox have a plan for exactly how you will facilitate external drive support in OSX. This is not optional. This is a complete nonstarter.
Never mind. I did the Dropbox upgrade, and most of the files ended up as cloud-only, so this did not use up my hard disc drive.
This explains the unusual Dropbox behavior I've seen the last couple of weeks. Add me to the list of Mac admins who will have to leave Dropbox (after 12 years of paid!) if it can't support external drives. What a mess this is making.
- Mark
Super User II
I'm not sure it'll be the end - until very recently external drives werent supported. Plus, they come with HUGE risks of data loss. For example if the drive disconnects or Dropbox doesnt open quick enough then it can be seen as a complete deletion of all files.
I think the bigger issue is around online and offline folders. BUT the irk with that needs directing at Apple.
Yeah, we run a weekly public radio show to over 500 stations and we have more than 4TB of audio that needs to be readily accessed by our reporters and engineers, at a moment's notice. And this is a small (under 50 people) operation compared to other media companies that require way more space in other to professionally work with media, especially since 2020. Since people in the team wont be able to have internal drives with 4TB+ of data storage, it means that if we can't use external drives, this WILL BE the END of Dropbox for a lot of these professional media companies.
If you unplug your external drive, or it glitches otherwise (which can easily be resolved by 1. not having your Dropbox start automatically upon log in 2. not more your computer after the drive and dropbox are turned on) it will simply re-index all files. It takes a few hours for 4TB to re index, it is no big deal and does not cause mass deletion of files. In the unlike event it does, any admin can, with 4 clicks and a filtered search can restore these files in 10 minutes.
And yes, I am also trying to reach out to apple, but as you know, there is not much hope they aren't doing this intentionally, and very little hope they will change their ways. In the other hand, Dropbox might be able to address this issue creatively.
dropbox , please let us know what's your contingency plan, or we will need to look for another solution.
Thanks
DropBox Users: You just destroyed our years long workflow. Literally everyone knows that internal drives don't have the capacity needed for a huge number of DropBox users. We'll lose business and suffer significant costs because of this.
DropBox: Welp, can we interest you in AI while we fire a ton of our workforce?
"Dropbox on Thursday announced plans to cut 500 employees, or about 16% of its workforce, according to a blog post on the company’s website.
Dropbox CEO Drew Houston wrote in the blog post that the company has been reckoning with slowing growth, in part due to a maturation of its business, but also as a result of economic headwinds that are pressuring its customers.
Houston said that the company is also facing an urgency to focus more on artificial intelligence-powered products, and doing so will require hiring workers with different skill sets."
- I am devastated with this new functionality. It just don’t work for me.
I’m in the video and graphic design market and I can’t work like this.
Back to files offline and wetransfer.com
I guess. I won’t pay for this new Dropbox.- Then don’t migrate to File Provider, the old API still syncs to external volumes, perfectly on the latest Mac OS
- How? This app updated on my Mac. Any guide to do this?
You can't mean this, can you? We pay for this! I want to be able to decide where I want to store my files, right?
Apple or you don't have to interfere with that, do you?
Internal drives are far too small, so the option to synchronize your Dropbox on an external drive should be back very soon.
I'm really outraged by this... this really doesn't make any sense!Nederkoorn I’m not sure to whom you are directing this complaint but I hope it’s not me, because we are in complete agreement.
ArthurPix I guess it's towards dropbox right? I also agree to the criticism (against them) – this situation is a disaster. And the lack of communication is beyond unprofessional. And, there seems to be conflicting info depending on who you speak to. I personally have heard from the DB support that they ar NOT working on a solution, whereas other support staff members have stated that they indeed ARE working on it. Who knows? It really sucks.
So this is what's happening to me, one of your first users ever. I found out about this Macos change because my system almost ran out of space. I was running Dropbox in 2 locations: 1. my external drive, and somehow a new instance on /Library/CloudStorage that I don't recall ever installing. Now DB won't connect and log in. This was a cluster f**k of a way to tell customers about this massive change.
If I'm reading this correctly, it looks like there may be hope on the horizon. According to the Apple File Provider developer docs, it looks as though Apple has added some functionality for external drives: link.
"Cache files on external disks. Confirm whether a volume is eligible for storing a domain using checkDomainsCanBeStoredOnVolume(at:), and create a domain on that volume using the new init(displayName:userInfo:volumeURL:) initializer. Store data about the current sync state using stateDirectoryURL(), and determine whether to connect to a domain created on another device using shouldConnectExternalDomain(completionHandler:)."Has anyone got onto Apple about this?
It appears One Drive has developed a work around for this huge problem. See the heading "Using Another Volume" at this link:
Essentially the system drive still has the file aliases in the library folder but you can choose, on initial install, for these items to be synced locally at another location. This doesn't look like a hack, but rather something officially implemented by OneDrive. Unclear what the downsides are...
Insane to me that there has been no outreach from Dropbox about this upcoming change. The service has been such a key component to our workflow for so long. will be unfortunate to have to find an alternative.
