I need to save space on my hard drive. Online-only files would be the perfect solution, but it still does not work on linux fedora.
When will we have this solution?
@edugsdf wrote: I need to save space on my hard drive. Smart Sync would be the perfect solution, but it still does not work on linux fedora. When will we have this solution?
I need to save space on my hard drive. Smart Sync would be the perfect solution, but it still does not work on linux fedora.
At the moment, Smart Sync is only available on Windows and Mac. Dropbox has made no announcement on its availability on Linux. They usually don't discuss timelines or upcoming features until they're reaady to announce them, so we likely won't know that it's coming until it's already here, assuming that it's coming at all.
dropbox client on linux is a [profanity removed by moderation according to the Community Guidelines] show. with increased competition from apple, microsoft, and google.. i don't see why dropbox doesnt play to its (previously) cross-platform strength. Frustratingly, they're are gonna go down the path that box did and play the enterprise collaboration gig with shared docs, tools, etc. and end up in the same situation. sigh. And this is the company guido works for? yech. not gonna keep sending them my money if these shenanigans keep going.
Would it work using Wine?
Has anyone tried this?
Yes, please add smart sync for linux. Where is the upvote button?
Figured I'd leave a comment to show support for the thread: I'm a Linux-only, Dropbox-only, and new Dropbox Pro subscriber. Please give me access to all of the features that I'm currently paying for. ;(
Side note: congrats on the Python3 migration. Down with Python2!
Been tracking this thread for months. Very annoyed. Paid customer for at least 5 years, linux customer for 3.
Happy to report pCloud has a beautiful interface for linux and all the features of dropbox, including smartsync.
thanks nb3. i am currently evaluating pcloud, tresorit, and mega.
as a bonus, they all offer client side encryption as well.
I have gotten tired of waiting for even an acknowledgement, never mind a solution and have moved to pCloud. It was suggested as an alternative by another user and an excellent recommendation at that. It is working great on Linux, Android and Windows. I'm dumping my paid subscription to dropbox since us Linux users are being ignored.
Even though I would like to see the new option available in Ubuntu and another linux-based operating systems, we should be aware that Dropbox offers fantastic cloud storage, file synchronization and personal cloud. Selective Sync works fine. Google still does not offer its own client for Google Drive. We should be fair and thank them; because some other companies don't have enough time to update their Qt-based applications, but we are forced to use older versions of their software for months/years before they release a newer version. My point is: it is ok to demand a new option, but please don't use this forum to promote alternatives. Linux-based OSes hardly have a 2% market share and having anything from big companies is a win.
Hey Dropbox,
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE add Smart Sync for Linux. Selective Sync is OK, but Smart Sync would allow my search utilities to find files, whether or not they are downloaded. I have all but dumped windows, and occasionally use macs, but my primary OS now is Linux - please make it a priority!I'm a paying user, and presumably, you want to keep people like me.
Thanks for showing pCloud.
As time passes by and DropBox still ignores Linux users (and companies using Linux) it is time to change. Not renewing this year.
Also pCloud has many more interesting functionalities as the family plan.
I am joining the complaints about the lack of availability of Smart Sync on Linux. Dropbox has just upgraded my plan to Plus, with a not negligible increase of the annual fee, and the main feature that has been added is not available on my operative system! It's a shame!
I recommended pCloud, but I actually ended up using "InSync" for Linux with Google Drive. I pay for Google's 2tb/year storage, and bought InSync's license which is one-time, and I find it has some advantages, including "Smart Sync"-like features (basically can upload to gdrive, then disconnect folder), and I can specify folders to sync. The thing I like best is that I get the advantages of searching with Google Drive, so I can search within photos which is crazy useful, and now my Gmail, Google Photos and Google Drive space is all consolidated, so I'm getting more of my money's worth. It's almost exactly what I need, and easy to work with regardless.
With my approaching subscription renewal date, I started wondering WHY THIS IS STILL AN ISSUE? We pay to Dropbox since it works on Linux. But Dropbox continues to ignore us. Very tragic. Thanks to the guys above, I had some other options to check. Hope I can find a viable option and cancel my team subscription...
Hi there!
I just wanted to add my name to the list of people who want smart sync on Linux. I just bought a 1 month subscription of Pro to try it out (I skipped Box and Google Drive because they completely lack Linux support) and I am saddened that Linux doesn't have smart sync.
I mentioned looking at other solutions in my previous posts a year ago, especially pCloud and Insync. I have been with Insync which uses my google drive for 4+ months now, and there are advantages compared to Dropbox. Storage from google is basically the same cost as dropbox, but now all my services are consolidated. Work and team sharing is much better, because I can use Google drive to search and organize, and it's crazy good. For instance, I can search inside my pictures. Insync also has the file filters that Dropbox does not, so I specify many app directories (node_modules, git, etc) that shouldn't be backed up, and it much more robust than dropbox. Really encourage you all to use a differnent solution than db.
Transferring from any cloud storage to any other requires an intermediary server or service if you don't have the files local to re-sync them. I only have about 5TB of data, so I just let it re-sync to the new service.
In the past, I have piped a stream from dropbox cli over to the Google Drive CLI. It's a one line command after you get an API key and set up your credentials, and requires no local storage. I used an OVH server that I own as the intermediary, and it has a 500mb pipe that is not metered so was pretty quick and cheap. From your home computer will suck, and you will have problems if connection fails mid-way.
For anyone wanting to have something like smart sync (e.g. a mounted point that only loads files as neccessary) there is the option of using rclone . This is a tool that supports multiple remote file systems and has lots of utilities for interacting with them.In particular you can use "rclone mount" to mount your dropbox to some folder.
For example:
mkdir ~/dropboxrclone mount dropbox:/ ~/dropbox
Will allow you to access your dropbox remote via the folder ~/dropbox .Now there's a few options we'll want:
--dir-cache-time 30s # Ensures entering a folder that was really recently entered doesn't need reload time--cache-dir ~/.rclone-cache-dir/ # Allows files to be cached instead of being loaded every time--vfs-cache-max-age 24h # Allows you to set time files will be kept in cache until they're removed from disk, configure to whatever you want--vfs-cache-max-size 2G # Allows you to set how much space will be used for cache, configure to whatever you want--vfs-cache-mode full # Ensures writes and reads are buffered to disk before sync
Now this gives a pretty good mounted fs however unfortunately this will not mount automatically on login.In order to get it working on startup we can use systemd to configure session start tasks.So create file:
~/.config/systemd/user/rclone-mount-dropbox.service
Now in this file we'll add our startup config:
[Unit]Description=Rclone DropboxWants=network-online.targetAfter=network-online.target[Service]TimeoutStartSec=60ExecStartPre=/bin/mkdir -p /home/<username>/dropboxExecStart=/usr/bin/rclone mount dropbox:/ /home/<username>/dropbox --dir-cache-time 30s --cache-dir /home/<username>/.rclone-mount-cache/ --vfs-cache-max-age 24h0m0s --vfs-cache-mode full --vfs-cache-max-size 2GExecStop=-/usr/bin/fusermount -u /home/<username>/dropboxRestart=on-abort[Install]WantedBy=default.target
Configure the options for the cache however you want. Make sure to change /home/<username> to whatever your home directory in all places it appears in the command.Now to add the service to run automatically:
systemctl --user enable rclone-mount-dropbox.service
And that's it, restart your computer (or start the service with systemctl) and voila you have a mounted dropbox in your home directory.
+1 for rclone solution pointed out by Jamesernator (thanks!).
I tried it and it seems to work nicely.
I think I'll use it, together with selective sync for most used dir.
At least, while waiting for smart sync feature for Linux!
Give me smart sync on Linux or I'm switching to Google Drive. Dropbox, you're losing out on paid users because you aren't actively supporting a platform that you offer service for. If you market a feature, make sure I can use it. Thanks.
Thank you to everyone who shared their thoughts on this idea here!
While we can't take every idea forward, we do regularly re-review and will update you if anything changes.
Thanks again!
