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Forum Discussion
Shut down computer once dropbox has finished syncing
It would be useful if the computer could shutdown after syncing so that everything has been loaded up.
Huh? Really? That's useful? I disagree. That sounds tremendously annoying and like just another strange setting of little value to the overwhelming majority of users. The concept of Dropbox is to be lightweight, extremely quiet, and non-invasive to your computers and your life. It is designed to keep your data synchronized with a minimum of hassle to you, and I think it's phenomenal just as it is. Basta on the "featuritis." I don't want my computers being shut down by errant little settings in assorted software that I run.
Actually, a little balloon that reminds you that you are still syncing when you try to shut down might be nice, but that's the limit of it. Remember, the Dropbox concept is not to bother you, but to work WITH you and all your activities on your machines, accepting your activities without complaint. They try to design the client software to be smart and robust, so it doesn't need to be bothering you with all the typical little beeps, bops, and pings that so many other programs do. All those little noids and dings get really annoying, and if you have ever straightened out a machine after its long absence from auto-updates online, you know what I mean. All those seconds here and there responding to prompts and accepting updates add up to a lot of time at the end of the day.
Features that interact in potentially dangerous ways with low-level operating system commands are nothing to be taken lightly or implemented unless very necessary. Dropbox is intended to work seamlessly and also with little danger to your computing environment. Assuming that an automated command (user-called or otherwise) to shut down can be thrown safely at some hours-later or days-later time, especially with machines that regularly get auto-updated by many different software vendors, is very dicey. I'm sure it *could* work a lot of the time, but DB has to be extremely careful for all the outlier cases and also assume that many users will make serious mistakes. In this context, a serious mistake could be a catastrophe.
This forum is full of people in other posts who manage to get snarled just using regular features as they are. One who can leave a modern computer running for days while a big sync happens can leave it running a day longer in order to shut it down safely when they have observed success. The benefits of Dropbox are already tremendous, and sketchy features aren't worth the hit they might take if people had trouble.Erik,
I guess it's pretty safe for most attentive users, assuming no other automatic processes end up negatively affected. There is nothing hugely wrong with having a shutdown feature, but it just doesn't seem all that necessary to me.
This seriously needs to get fixed ASAP. I just got home and realized that my computer at work didn't finish uploading before it shut down. Now I can't work over the weekend unless I go back to the office. This is not the first, nor the second, nor the third time this has happened.
I'd love a 'shutdown when synced' checkbox. I'm an editor and very often have to leave projects uploading at the end of the day before leaving the office for a few days at a time. It would be very helpful.
Anyone looking for "shutdown when synced" please send me an e-mail: [email removed as per Community Guidelines] and mention "Shutdown when synced" in the subject line. This is possible.
I would prefer that Dropbox prevent normal shutdown rather than require me to shut down my computer in a special way. Internet at my office is not particularly fast and I might not remember to check Dropbox sync status before shutting down, in fact that's what happens every time I go home and realize that dropbox didn't finish before Windows shut it down.
Would also love a feature like that. I prepare all my data for work at home and upload it via Dropbox. It has happend several times that i have forgotten to wait for the upload to be finished and was missing important files at work ...
+1, would very useful feature. My case - I store all work files in TrueCrypt container which is saved in dropbox folder. When I finish work, I dosmount this contailner, so it becomes ready for sync. But it's more than 2GB size and it's annoying to wait until sync ends if I need work files at home.
