Error downloading folder through web client

SUN W. K

I don't think you have a good understanding of the issue and are looking at this through blinkered eyes in relation to your own set up.

"You don't use selective sync? Also a terabyte external drive is like $50 usd these days."

I use selective synch.

I have a super fast new Macbook pro Retina with a 120gb HD so I use selective synch just on the folders I want stored locally. That's why I pay for Dropbox, so I can store a load of data in the cloud, presuming it is all safe and easy to access.

An external hd is cheap - 

Yes but that is not the point. Mac storage is very expensive and I want to be able to access data from anywhere, that's why I have a subscription. Also, if the external hd is not set up as the main destination then it can be really tricky to synch and it can all mess up if the drive is disconnected. 

Tech support got back to me with this:

"

There is no way to transfer files directly from Dropbox to an external hard drive unless you follow a very specific set of instructions.

Dropbox can be used with an external hard drive as long as you can ensure the drive is always connected to your computer while Dropbox is running. If the drive is ever disconnected from the computer while Dropbox is running there is a small chance that the Dropbox software will start deleting files before realizing that the entire drive has been removed. Also, for Dropbox to work best you should make sure that the drive is formatted as NTFS (Windows), HFS (Mac OS X) or a file system that supports extended attributes (Linux).

To move your Dropbox folder to an external drive use the following steps:

- Click the Dropbox icon in your menu bar or system tray and then click on the gear in the Notifications panel
- Select "Preferences" from the resulting Dropbox menu
- Under the “Account” tab, select a new location for the Dropbox folder by clicking on the drop down next to “Dropbox location:”
- Let Dropbox move your folder and its contents to its new location

NOTE: The location you select is the folder the Dropbox folder will be moved to, rather than the folder your Dropbox files will be stored in.

A good alternative to moving Dropbox to an external drive is to take a look at our Selective Sync feature. Selective Sync is a feature that allows you to choose which folders to sync to a particular computer. It's a great option if you'd like to free up disk space without moving Dropbox to an external drive.

Please follow these steps to enable Selective Sync:

1) Click on the Dropbox icon in the menu bar at the top of your screen.
2) Click the gear icon
3) Select "Preferences"
4) Go to the "Account" tab
5) Select "Change Settings..."

By default, all folders in Dropbox automatically sync to any computer that's linked to your Dropbox account. If you'd like to prevent a folder from syncing to your computer, un-check the box next to the folder's name. Any folders you deselect will stop syncing to your hard drive, but will still be available through the website and on any other computer linked to your Dropbox account.

If you decide that you need the deselected folders back on your computer, go into your Selective Sync settings and check the box next to the folder's name. Dropbox will then sync the updated folder to your computer again.

To learn more about Selective Sync, please read this Help Center article:

https://help.dropbox.com/syncing-uploads/selective-sync-overview

"