Dropbox removing external disk support for Mac users

@beenyweenies I still believe I was perfectly clear. Let's take another example with large Kontakt music libraries, which can reach up to 150GB. Even with the best external SSDs from SanDisk, which are supposed to be super fast, there's a noticeable lag compared to the MacBook's internal drive. This matters a lot in my line of work, especially for tasks like processing machine learning models, where disk speed directly impacts efficiency and performance. I don't have time for slow drives. But apparently you do have time to waste.

As for your comment, "my TM backups are just created on my NAS, then backed up to the iDrive, so I have incredible redundancy built in," I see your point. However, to me, it sounds like a spaghetti setup - tangled and not straightforward.

And regarding the monitor connection, when you say, "You make it sound like it’s some risky, cumbersome, inconvenient thing to deal with. How is your machine connected to your external monitor? A cable. Not a big deal. Not risky. Not inconvenient," I must clarify. I wasn't talking about risk; I was emphasizing the inconvenience and redundancy. Yes, I have an Apple Studio Monitor, and yes, connecting it is an option. But it's just that - inconvenient. My setup is minimalist, with just my high-end M3 and the Apple Studio Monitor. No wires, no mess.

Furthermore, it seems like you might not fully grasp the complexity of my work, which is a whole different ballgame. It appears we're not quite in the same league, and frankly, your understanding seems to be at a fifth-grade level, which really disqualifies you from making further comments on this matter.

@ArthurPix It's downright hilarious, @beenyweenies. You've been at it for a year, still scratching your head over auto-backups to the cloud, and then have the audacity to critique my setup as if it's not up to par? That's rich! Your inability to navigate what should be a straightforward process, and then turning around to question my (most straightforward and logical) way of doing things? That's comedy gold. Maybe focus on getting your own house in order before casting doubts on others. It's like the blind leading the blind, only you're alone in the dark, buddy. Hahahaha.

You know @ArthurPix the whole cable thing is hilarious to me. I'm over here living the dream with Dropbox and my trusty Mac drive—no wires, no drama. And then there's you, with your high-tech setup, which, if I recall correctly, took a nosedive that one time. Quite the adventure, huh? Props for owning up to it, though. It's like a tech horror story, but with a good sport as the protagonist.

GetUp

Hi, im sorry, how to downgrade to old API? Im on SOnoma on 4 macs here...

Nederkoorn

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.

jakobsjobom

@ArthurPix I guess it's towards @dbox_ 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.

ben_k

@GetUp - I think you’ll have to reinstall Dropbox.
When I setup a new Sonoma Mac in December it used the old API by default and gave me the option to upgrade to File Provider.

juliolio

I think the lack of clear communication on a situation over a year old, encouraging the mostly professional user side to maintain an increasingly untenable legacy setup is borderline criminal. If anyone has a suggestion for a service that functions well for Mac Pro users with external drives please let us know as I will be jumping ship in the coming months if there’s not clear indication soon.

@GetUp I think I read a reply here telling you to reinstall Dropbox, and I would agree to this. It’s like when I encounter a bug that makes DB hang. “reboot and if that doesn’t work, reinstall,” was always my mantra.

@juliolio I’ve been using Sync.com on a very fast, 4Tb external SSD for more than a year now. It’s a bit more laggy than Dropbox, but extremely reliable. Canadian servers.

@juliolio this is what happens when a single company dominates a sector, then innovation stops and they no longer need to develop their product...

@ArthurPix Sync.com is laggy like you said yourself... certainly not a reliable workaround for professionals and professional freelancers. Also the sync is really slow compared to Dropbox speeds and the indexing system different too (Dropbox being far superior).

Bluebiycle

I chip in on this thread every now and again, just to remind folks of how good Dropbox Sync really is pre File Provider. BTW I'm on Ventura 13.6.4 and it still works perfectly. We have maybe 100TB of files in Dropbox.

There's 2 things to focus on, one is storage for sure, and external syncing removal, if we are forced to move to "File Provider" will destroy our workflows here. But the other thing I worry about, is that LAN sync goes away too.

Now for those not familiar with this, it's simply a way of syncing files from another Dropbox user, who is on the same network locally, rather than via the Cloud. This feature is invaluable. Why?

Well because I have internet download speed of only 75Mb/s fairly typical in the UK. So what I do is have 2 Macs syncing. One just drip feeds all the time to an 8TB Raid. The other is my work machine which is portable and has less storage. If I want files when at home. I just sync as normal, but this feature retrieves the files from the other Mac. Eg. I just pulled 90GB of files in under an hour, that would take 5 times that via the internet!!

So we must not lose this LAN sync feature because it is the solution to poor internet download speeds.

For me the problem will only become a problem when the Old Syncing API no longer works with the latest Mac OS. So far this has not been the case. I'm optimistic about why, because it's obvious that without external Syncing AND LAN share Dropbox is unusable for millions of folks, using File Provider. This will therefore get solved eventually, it has to.

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.

Having my files on an external drive is the #1 reason I have used Dropbox since 2007. If I cannot do that I will delete and unsubscribe. Sorry DB it seems Apple is forcing this from their walled garden approach.

@mkaufman That’s why I left DB, reluctantly, a year ago. I stick around here to help people out and can’t say I don’t miss DB, but FAST external drives are under $350 these days. Drop a Crucial P3 NVME into a Satechi enclosure and you’ve got a 4Tb pocket rocket that can clock close to 3000.

@shinbeth This professional freelancer is finding Sync.com to be steady as a dream AND supportive of my external drives.

@juliolio Give Sync.com a try. I predict you’ll like it,

Jeffrey H.11

I upgraded to a base model MacBook Air with a 256 GB drive. I just use it for DJing and surfing the web. I did a Time Machine backup and restore. DB moved my folder to an encrypted folder that sits in the Library. The transition was a nightmare as I have 2+TB on DB. It clogged my Mac for a few days as I worked through getting it to online only.

My iMac Pro still functions as normal, though, with DB sitting on the internal drive. It's when you make a change that you'll have problems. DB support was very helpful and they escalated my ticket. Ultimately, it just took a long time to for DB to sort itself out and my laptop is fine.

ms25

If I'm reading this correctly, it looks like there may be hope on the horizon. According to the Apple File Provider developer docs, it looks as though Apple has added some functionality for external drives: link.

"Cache files on external disks. Confirm whether a volume is eligible for storing a domain using checkDomainsCanBeStoredOnVolume(at:), and create a domain on that volume using the new init(displayName:userInfo:volumeURL:) initializer. Store data about the current sync state using stateDirectoryURL(), and determine whether to connect to a domain created on another device using shouldConnectExternalDomain(completionHandler:)."

I am in the middle of migrating a client off a server and onto dropbox with over 18TB files and they're adamant it will be fine on external drive? Did anything change for you or is it all still working?

It will look like it works but it won’t sync. I tried recently regrettably.. You’ll end up seeing your 18tb folder structure with zero bytes.

So dropbox support said that we didn't HAVE to migrate to Apple File Provider and so we could stay on a version that does work? I actually have dropbox on external drive and it is still working as per normal. Have you had issues with using yours as stands or did you try to update dropbox and migrate? I am on Monterey.

psalcal

Yes same... still works for me on external drive, so I haven't looked at any other solutions. There are two conflicting posts above, one saying Apple is or soon will be allowing external drives on file provider, and the other one saying Dropbox won't be supporting external drives.

I got told today that I'd be fine using an external drive.. I don't get it but it doesn't install confidence especially when I'm looking at setting up a client with this system. So not really sure what to do.? I don't want to install something which is costing them thousands of pounds $$ and then it go wrong!

This is an interesting idea. Crap that this could actually be the only solution. I have ran off external drives off and on over the years. mainly when I am doing an upgrade of the OS and want to test the new OS and essential programs etc. So in theory you could run the OS of the giant RAID drives, I mean this can have issues for laptop users who ever want to you know... be mobile. But if you did the install of the OS on the external drive then you would have all that space "internal" as far as the OS is concerned and on the correct drive etc. But not the best work around. But for static machines maybe this would be okay. Why do apple have to break something that is working so well for since it was getdropbox.com

Does sync.com use a kernel extension though? If it does then once Apple update and kernels are no longer compatible then won't they just have the same issue longterm?

My client currently runs this way, but ultimately it's still really slow 10GB and very expensive to upgrade all the Macs to a higher bandwidth. Local storage (externally) is much faster. Plus NAS is giving issues for many adobe programs etc. files disappearing and adobe not really supporting this solution either.

BenDBX

Hi Everybody,

Keep in mind that participation in beta programs is subject to the certain terms and conditions. There are certain additional participation requirements:

This beta is only available to US-based users
You must be on macOS 15 beta
You must have an external drive that is APFS formatted and encrypted

Please let me know if you have any further questions!