I've been a Dropbox user for about 10 years. Today, I was greeted with a demand from my Dropbox client to move all of my Dropbox synced folders from ~/Dropbox to ~/Library/CloudStorage.
I've done a bit of research and I understand the reason for the change. However, I'm deeply troubled by the implication that on-demand cloud storage is the "new normal" for these files, and that offline storage seems to be a less preferable option.
I'm going to make this clear: I expect all of my synced files to be stored on all of my devices at all times. I have many workflows that depend on local file storage and will either be unacceptably postponed by on-demand access or will simply break. Also, I refuse to accept the possibility of essential files being unavailable because my device is offline or has low bandwidth.
I understand that with the new Dropbox, "individual files and folders" can be marked as "make available offline," and will therefore be stored locally. However, I can't seem to find any indication of how well that marking process works. If one of the base folders on Dropbox is included in Selective Sync on my Mac, and if I mark that folder as "make available offline," will that designation be enforced for all files and folders? Or will this setting have to be managed constantly - e.g., I might find that newly created files were marked as "on-demand" by default and need to be updated?
To be clear, this is 1,000% a breaking change for me, and if I cannot make Dropbox satisfy my needs, I will be terminating my service and moving all of my files elsewhere. It is a shame that Dropbox has taken this one-size-fits-all approach and has broken core functionality in furtherance of a feature that I have no intention of ever using.
