You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.
Forum Discussion
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.
As someone with a ton of Dropbox data on an external, this is a pretty frustrating situation. However, I do want to just point out that Dropbox's initial response, which flagged this thread as "solved," does say pretty clearly that they are working on a solution that would allow us to continue working on external drives despite the OS changes, that users with files currently on externals will not be migrated over to the new system yet, and that they will let us know when they have more to share. That is probably the clearest and most detailed response we could realistically hope for, given that the Dropbox team is ALSO being kept in the dark.
The fact is, much of the anger over this issue should really be directed at Apple, not Dropbox. If you poke around a bit in other adjacent communities (Synology, etc), you will see similar outrage directed at various companies for failing to provide a timely solution to this issue, and for failing to communicate clearly about it. But in reading the responses from company representatives to these threads, it's clear that what's really happening here is Apple is not keeping companies like Dropbox, Synology etc in the loop. They are just ghosting these teams and leaving them trying to guess when, if or how to implement a feature that has been slow-walked, redesigned and rescheduled numerous times from the get-go. And even further reading reveals that many experienced IT folk believe there isn't a compelling case for Apple to require that this CloudStorage folder live on the internal storage at all. It is very likely a means to force customers into spending more up-front on their machine purchases, for built-in storage that is soldered to the motherboard and cannot be upgraded. This IS the Apple way, and it has been almost since inception. They hate handing revenue to third party companies, and are not at all shy about using proprietary elements or other means to enforce ecosystem lock-ins that keep the money in-house. I say this as a long-time user/fan that is deeply invested in their products, and as a shareholder. I love their products, I have no ill will toward them, this is just an observation of fact, not a tirade against them.
I'm not saying Dropbox is completely innocent here. Only that it's obvious that Apple is not being forthcoming or working very well with third-party companies impacted by kernel extension deprecation/File Provider situation. So we should probably try to be a little understanding of Dropbox's rock-and-a-hard-place situation here.
beenyweenies This is all true to an extent, BUT…
As Simeone who’s been aware of this cruel policy for quite some time, I’d just like to point out that it was ONLY after we users kicked up a storm and some of us started canceling our auto-renewals and migrating to providers such as Sync and PCloud that Dropbox made the declaration we have been speaking of, and two months later there is still no solution. Some of us have our livelihoods tied to these policies, so it’s what you might call an existential dilemma.
All this said, I do get your suggestion that we should be directing our anger at Apple, and to an extent I agree, but Dropbox seems to care a bit more about users than does Apple. I have personally been complaining to Apple, as have others.
ArthurPix I hear you. And I agree that Dropbox didn't handle this as well as they could have. I just wanted to point out that many other communities are going through this same thing, and Apple's lack of communication/responsiveness is making it difficult for these companies to plot a coherent course of action.
We should definitely hold Dropbox accountable, but we should also be voicing our opinions to Apple as it sounds like you have (bravo!). If the chorus of displeasure grows loud enough, maybe Apple will back off on this silly requirement that the CloudStorage folder must live on the local drive. A boy can dream, anyway.
- Hi there, Ive received an email re the new MacOS FileProvider version of Dropbox.
I have 2x partitions on my MacBook internal drive, one for the system and one for Dropbox. This allows me to quickly erase/reinstall the system without having to copy terabytes of work off the drive - basically nuke any system issues quickly.
The FileProvider email links to notes which state it won’t support external drives and I assume this also means partitions?
And if so, is this temporary or the future of DropBox on Mac?
BTW sorry if this isn’t the right forum, the link just dumped me at the default forums home page.
Any help/ideas much appreciated. Cheers, Ben.Ben S.31 Have you put that two-partition system to the test? Because unless something has changed, I don’t believe Dropbox allows you to point a new software install at an existing Dropbox folder to avoid resyncing all those files. Every time I’ve ever re-installed Dropbox, it demands that I do a new sync to an empty folder.
And yes, you are correct, the new Dropbox version will not support non-boot partitions. The reason is that Apple has forced cloud file providers to store their files in a folder within your user profile. In some aspects this makes sense - think of a shared computer and the need to keep your personal cloud files private and separate from the other users - but it also creates a huge gaping problem for anyone needing to sync more data locally from their cloud provider than will fit onto Apple’s internal drive offerings (physically or financially).
Some folks here have mentioned just moving your user folder to an external drive (or in your case, the other partition), which should in theory relocate the cloud storage folder along with it, thus solving this whole issue. But poking around one will find many, many stories of this workflow backfiring on people, as any OS updates will break this setup and potentially lock you out of your computer. It’s super risky and, in my view, not a viable solution at all.
For now, one good option is to invest in a NAS and store your files there instead of Dropbox. This can completely bypass the need for on-demand syncing of local files to save precious drive space, and gives you so much more control over your own data. If Dropbox is important to you, Synology has a cloud sync application for their NAS that will sync with Dropbox, which I am currently using but honestly will probably not bother going forward. The reason is that this setup has so much storage available that there is no need to fuss with setting files to local vs online-only to save space, and the built-in feature set of Synology Drive is good enough to render Dropbox almost completely redundant. From here, you can back up your entire NAS to the cloud for protection via Backblaze, if you use their backup service which offers unlimited backup space. Not to be confused with Backblaze B2 which is like Dropbox and, because of the expanded feature set, is way more expensive.
Lots of great inforation, thank you for taking the time to explain things so clearly.
My issue currently, is that I and my team share large (200gb projects) using dropbox, and so we need to syc to our local machines, as any one of us may need to work on any particular project at any one time. Get 3 or 4 of these projects on the go for ay individual, and they will quickly run out of hard drive capacity.
I'm praying there is a software developer who has developed a workaround....!
I keep getting notifications about the new "better app" that uses the new Apple API. And then if I click on the info line below I get a huge list of all the things that will no longer be possible when I upgrade, as well as all the known limitations!
https://help.dropbox.com/installs/macos-support-for-expected-changes
Just a wild idea - maybe also tell users what the benefits will be with some actual examples other than it "integrating more deeply with the OS" 😜? Otherwise literally the only benefit listed is "fix issues related to opening online-only files in third-party applications".
Thanks
Apple File Provider is a MAJOR DESASTER - i quit my Dropbox Account
Title says it all
Dropbox Folder needs to sit on the system drive
Such an ignorance, i'm totally floored.
>> "We're always looking for ways to improve Dropbox. We regularly release new versions of our products with better performance, additional features, and security enhancements." <<
My suggestion:Start by not deteriorating your products. Apple File Provider is an unbeatable disaster.We have massive computing power at our disposal, and all we users do with it is process Word and Excel online. Is this your vision of our work?
Are your imaginations so limited that you can't fathom how a user deals with 2TB of synced data? Do you have any idea how an audio program accesses data? A photo program? A video program?
Do you really think we can or even want to handle online-only data? I just canceled my 2TB Dropbox account because you've made it unusable. You've crippled your own product and failed to deliver on your performance promise.
According to the new Apple File Provider guidelines, I would have to equip my 4 Macs with 3TB system HDs to accommodate the Dropbox Folder, the system, and swap RAM. This fails because system HDs cannot be replaced afterward and because Mac Mini and MacBook Air are not even offered with 3TB HDs.
I am shocked by this ignorance.
I was just about to upgrade but because I had this same thing happen to me with OneDrive, I thought to check first. This info should be very visible when you go to sign up. Something like, "On a Mac? Read this first!" Profits and all that though...what can you do?
I use Sync cloud because I can sync to an external drive still. Not sure what they're doing different but there you go.
Edit: I may have to retract. What is this I just found? I was able to choose an external drive.
Hi, where is this option please, and could you confirm if this worked?
I am needing to move 280GB from my Mac, onto an external drive.
Thanks
For me it's this: Preferences>sync tab>dropbox folder location>click the dropdown and select 'other'>then find the drive you want.
I'm on dropbox app v181.3.5613 on Ventura.
Greetings,
I'm wondering if you have found any working alternative? Has Dropbox fixed anything or have you found another service?
Thanks for any suggestions!
I'd like to get back to work.
Josh- 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?
Interesting!
In spite of this thread, I renewed for another year back in November under the premise that Dropbox said they would not FORCE the update and you had to opt in. I'm on Ventura on a Mac Studio that restarts fresh every day, and am still fine with my 2TB living on an external drive. My 2015 iMac (back on Mojave) is also still doing fine with Dropbox on an external.
It's not in spite of this thread.. it's because of this thread, at least in part. At the beginning of this thread, Dropbox said there were NO other alternatives and dropbox would ONLY be supported on the system drive. Because of this thread (at least in part), Dropbox backpedaled a little and now says you can still use the previous version of Dropbox and store on external drives. So... thank those of us who have whined about this from the start. :).
Just weighing in on the recent comments on this thread. No one here should be arguing over whether a person should purchase enough internal storage to satisfy the new cloud storage mechanism. That is a personal choice, based on budget and need, and is not always realistic. I personally have 7TB of data and much more on the way. Macbook Pros max out at 8TB, and at an additional cost of $2,200. If that is a good plan for YOU, then so be it. But it won't be for most.
I'm going to reiterate my long term solution which has been working flawlessly, in case it helps others here. I purchased a 5-drive Synology DS1522+ NAS and loaded it with enough WD Red drives to give me 20+TB of data. One of the software packages that is included, Synology Drive, has local/cloud sync features just like Dropbox, so I can locally sync whatever project I'm working on at the moment for fast speeds, then switch those files back to cloud only when the project is complete to free that space up again. It works just as well as Dropbox. However, I decided to upgrade my network components to 10Gbe so that I can work directly off the NAS, and this gave me around 700MB/s write, 900MB/s read speeds, which is plenty for my personal needs. This entire setup cost me around $1,500, far less than Apple charges for around 1/3 the local storage on a new Macbook Pro. I ALSO pay around $10/month to back up all of my files to iDrive E2 cloud storage, which the Synology NAS does automatically every night, eliminating most risk from using local storage.
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.
