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Running macOS from an external system drive – does Dropbox work OK with this setup?

If I boot/run my Mac exclusively from an external system drive, does Dropbox work OK? I imagine that if the drive was removed suddenly, the system would crash before Dropbox had chance to delete (m)any files.

Does anyone have experience with this setup?

I cannot use the File Provider version of Dropbox because I am already very near to the 500,000 file limit

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Jay

Hi @LC77, thanks for posting today!

We wouldn't be able to predict what effects this would have with your Dropbox account, as having the system folder, and the Dropbox folder on an external drive isn't a common user experience.

I'll leave this thread open for other users to comment with their experiences.

Dell_Dropbox

Before you try this setup, I would search for "Dropbox Folder External" or something similar to glean the experiences that other users have shared regarding this, as well as shedding light on potential issues they may run into

Jay

Hi @LC77, just checking to see if you saw our last reply.
If you still need any information, feel free to reach out.
If your issue has been solved, let us know what worked for you!

dustinb

This is how I've been running my m1 mini since purchase - using a Thunderbolt 3 NVME 2TB SSD. It works without issue, and Dropbox presents no trouble. I do use the File Provider version, and have even used symlinks to map my hidden Dropbox folder to another external SSD (this one connected via USB3).

The only issues I've ever encountered with this setup were a kind of weird upgrade between major Mac OS X releases that just took a while to work out, and also upon first installation of Setup (the app subscription service) - I had to contact their support for a workaround, but after that it was smooth sailing. Since that was several years ago, they may have even fixed that issue.