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ctyrider's avatar
ctyrider
Explorer | Level 3
21 days ago

How can I have my Dropbox folder on an external drive with macOS on File Provider?

What is the deal with External drive support for Dropbox for macOS on File Provider, as described in this article?   https://help.dropbox.com/installs/mac-external-drive-support   I am on the...
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Dropbox Backup
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Rich's avatar
Rich
Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
18 days ago
ctyrider wrote:

I am on the ... latest Dropbox client v210.4.4854.  The article vaguely mentions this being in "Beta".

Seeing as this is a Beta feature, I wonder if you need to be running the Beta client. You're running a stable release (middle digit of the version is a 4). Try installing the latest Beta from the Clients Builds section. The middle number in the version should be a 3 for the beta versions.

  • ctyrider's avatar
    ctyrider
    Explorer | Level 3
    18 days ago
    Rich wrote:
    ctyrider wrote:

    I am on the ... latest Dropbox client v210.4.4854.  The article vaguely mentions this being in "Beta".

    Seeing as this is a Beta feature, I wonder if you need to be running the Beta client. You're running a stable release (middle digit of the version is a 4). Try installing the latest Beta from the Clients Builds section. The middle number in the version should be a 3 for the beta versions.

    I tried it with the latest beta build 211.3.5981 - no change whatsoever.  I wonder if this is something Dropbox has to enable on my account server-side.

     

    Does anyone actually have this working as described in the article?

    • Rich's avatar
      Rich
      Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
      17 days ago
      ctyrider wrote:
      I wonder if this is something Dropbox has to enable on my account server-side.

      The article does say "eligible customers."

      • ctyrider's avatar
        ctyrider
        Explorer | Level 3
        17 days ago
        Rich wrote:
        ctyrider wrote:
        I wonder if this is something Dropbox has to enable on my account server-side.

        The article does say "eligible customers."

        It does, but right below, under "Eligibility" it says:

         

        In order to be eligible to store the Dropbox folder on an external drive with Dropbox for macOS on File Provider, you must:

        Be on macOS 15
        Have under 500,000 files in the Dropbox folder on your device

        Support is only for external drives that are both:
        Formatted as Apple File System (APFS)
        Encrypted

         

        My setup is already compliant with all of these.

         

        So Hannah or Megan - can Dropbox explain what's really going on with this feature?   If it's unsupported - "External drive support for Dropbox for macOS on File Provider" article should be removed or updated, so customers like myself stop wasting our time.

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