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zephyr707's avatar
zephyr707
Helpful | Level 6
6 years ago

Best practices for using symlinks (symbolic links)

Hi there, I use dropbox on linux with symlinks, but am not sure which is the best/preferred way to use them. Is there a best practice for using this type of configuration? Currently I use symlink...
Create
Desktop
Linux
Sync
  • Daphne's avatar
    Daphne
    6 years ago
    Hey there zephyr707,
     
    I would strongly recommend sticking with the current configuration you currently have, which would be having the actual files in the Dropbox folder and having your symlinks in the home directory. In this case, it wouldn’t have any affect on the files syncing as the actual files are within the Dropbox folder.
     
    Issues occur with syncing when the files are located elsewhere and the symlink is within the Dropbox folder instead. This can cause performance issues and high CPU usage when trying to sync the files. In some cases, the desktop app may even just sync the symlink file itself and not the referenced file. This will mean the actual file won’t be synced to your Dropbox account so you wont be able to access the actual file via the web or other devices your account syncs to.
     
    Hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions - Thanks!
Daphne's avatar
Daphne
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
Hey there zephyr707,
 
I would strongly recommend sticking with the current configuration you currently have, which would be having the actual files in the Dropbox folder and having your symlinks in the home directory. In this case, it wouldn’t have any affect on the files syncing as the actual files are within the Dropbox folder.
 
Issues occur with syncing when the files are located elsewhere and the symlink is within the Dropbox folder instead. This can cause performance issues and high CPU usage when trying to sync the files. In some cases, the desktop app may even just sync the symlink file itself and not the referenced file. This will mean the actual file won’t be synced to your Dropbox account so you wont be able to access the actual file via the web or other devices your account syncs to.
 
Hope this helps, let me know if you have any other questions - Thanks!
jsparks's avatar
jsparks
Helpful | Level 5
5 years ago

This sounds like an edge case, as plenty of users used symlinks the old way without the high CPU or missing file issue.  Using ~/Dropbox as the working directory does not fit all use cases.  Dropbox as a backup solution has been completely broken with the decision not to support symlinks.  Dropbox could fix this by having a selective backup option in the mac app (not selective sync, selective backup), but as it stands now, Dropbox is now useless for me and all those that used it as a backup solution.  This was a bad move on Dropbox's part and has forced me and others to seek out other providers.

  • TLA2c's avatar
    TLA2c
    New member | Level 2
    5 years ago
    Agree, am in exact same boat - I have several things I want to keep backed up / off site, where the actual data directory can't be under my user profile / dropbox folder. Symlinks allowed this to work perfectly until blocked.
    • jsparks's avatar
      jsparks
      Helpful | Level 5
      5 years ago

      I'm currently doing an initial sync with Backblaze.  Will post here how my experience is after I have a chance to kick the tires a bit.  No symlink support, but it backs up everything with unlimited storage and allows you to create links to send other people to download.  I suspect that will be enough to satisfy what I mostly need it for.

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