I’m looking for a way to avoid performance problems with my computers when starting up.
I may create or change 10 to 25 ~1Gb files in Dropbox at a time so when I switch computers,and login, my resources and bandwidth are always taken up by Dropbox indexing and syncing. Sometimes, it can be hours that I’m trying to work while fighting against Dropbox. Often times one or some of the files I need to work with are ones that have been created or changed but other times, I need to work with unrelated files - that is, if I can get the computer to work.
(I have two notebooks that I typically use. I need them for different OS’ and to have a backup PC. Generally it doesn’t matter which one I use and it’s not a problem to carry a small HD with me.)
I’ve read that it can be dangerous running Dropbox from a removable drive because a situation could occur resulting in all files being deleted. I’m considering using Boxifier and a 1Gb USB drive but I can’t get my head around the configuration so I’m not sure if what I’m thinking of will be helpful…
I’m considering running Dropbox from my local C: drives then putting Boxifier on the USB drive and using it to interact with the data. I will carry the USB drive with me regardless of what computer I have. This way, Dropbox is local on the computer and will sync with Boxifier.
At a glance, this looks like the least effective approach but it seems to be what’s necessary to be able to begin working as fast as possible.
Do I seem to have this right? Is there a better way to avoid long delays while Dropbox syncs recent changes?
Yes, it is not recommended to install Dropbox on your external drive or to place your Dropbox folder on the external drive.
However, you can sync folders from external drives with Boxifier. This is one of the reasons why we created it. We also had folders on our external drives and wanted to have them synced with Dropbox.
Once you install Boxifier you can go to your folder on the external drive and choose “Boxifier - Sync with Dropbox”. Please note that Boxifier installs on your computer, you cannot run it from a USB drive. You can however unplug your external drive and use it on multiple computers. Then, when you want to sync the changes to Dropbox, just connect it back to the computer where you have Boxifier installed and it will start syncing with Dropbox.
As a follow up, if I map the USB drive using the same drive letter on all computers will Boxifier see it as the same instance of data? It seems that’s what I’ll need to do for this to work. Also (I assume you’re an employee) is the license for Boxifier per Dropbox account or per computer?
The way it works now is like this: on one computer you right click a folder from your USB drive and it gets synced as a subfolder in Dropbox\Boxifier. On the other computers the contents of the folder will be downloaded to the corresponding folder in Dropbox\Boxifier.
We are working on adding support so that on other computers you can also link a folder on the USB drive to an existing folder in Dropbox\Boxifier.
Yes, I am one of the creators of Boxifier
At the moment Boxifier is licensed per computer but we will soon add support for linking your license with your Dropbox account so that you can use it on multiple computers linked to the same Dropbox account.
OK, I think we’re getting this narrowed down. One (or two) last question…
Already having a standard Dropbox tree structure on multiple computers, if I want to move the data to a USB drive on one computer (just to keep the question simple) can I: A) delete Dropbox from that computer, then B) from another computer insert a Boxifier subfolder in the Dropbox path by changing it from Dropbox/myFolders to Dropbox/Boxifier/myFolders, then C) duplicate myFolders to U:/myFolders on the USB drive, then D) reinstall Dropbox on the first computer and finally E) right click on the drive letter on the USB drive and add it to Dropbox. Is that doable?
Then, do you know if… having ~200,000 files taking up 200Gb in Dropbox, my computer takes about 15 minutes to check the indexes when I boot. With this data on a removable USB drive, will Dropbox take the same amount of time (roughly) when booting (assuming the drive is not attached) or when the drive is attached to the computer after the computer is running?
It’s a great idea and it looks like something I can use sooner-or-later but I hope sooner.
