Dropbox's Free Storage Plan Now Limited to Three Devices

[warp9]

I used to love Office 365 for that same reason. BUT I found that when using it across many devices / OSs, it would constantly zero out my files 🙁 ... I had to switch back to dropbox unfortunately.

This is what's being ignored in all these comments. Dropbox is far more stable and trouble-free than competing solutions. It's also spy-free, unlike Google and Microsoft.
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Yikes. Not good. 🙁 I'd be livid if I lost some files like that.

Exactly.

The last thing you should consider when it comes to your data is price. Reliability is far more important. I have been burned by so many providers making big promises and then having them disappear or wipe everything out or duplicate data over and over. Dropbox is the only one that hasn't screwed up yet.

 

[Brammy]

This is what's being ignored in all these comments. Dropbox is far more stable and trouble-free than competing solutions.

Yeah.

I pay for Dropbox Pro, which gives me Selective Sync. Both OneDrive and iCloud's versions let me download files when I use them, but I can't specify a file/folder to either always be downloaded, or always online. I have a lot of saved PDFs and the like I don't really care if they are on the physical drive or not.

That said, I am taking a look at whether I truly need the files in the cloud, or if storing them on a USB-drive will help. One of my big hopes with iOS 13 is it understands removable storage.

 

[bwintx]

Only apps keeping me in any tier of Dropbox at this point: Scrivener (for occasional use, since I've moved on to other writing apps), 1Password, and the RoadTrip iOS app. Am quite happy with iCloud Drive 2TB tier for everything else.

EDIT: Well, leave out 1Password. Forgot (d'oh) that my being a subscriber means it's all in the 1PW cloud anyway, so no Dropbox needed there. Leaves just Scriv and RoadTrip at this point — and I could forget about Scriv's often-problematic sync and use it only on the Mac; but RoadTrip is Dropbox-only, not even appearing to save to iCloud at all (or export to other car-maintenance-monitoring apps), so am guessing I have to stick with Dropbox for that alone, albeit on only one device.

 

[warp9]

My primary use of Dropbox (or any cloud really) is to separate data from hardware. Computers and drives fail or get damaged and systems change frequently. I prefer to rely on Dropbox massive redundancy and failsafes rather than my own two-bit solutions. I still have a NAS quietly backing up my dropbox folder though, but that's just for peace of mind.

 

[v0lume4]

This is what's being ignored in all these comments. Dropbox is far more stable and trouble-free than competing solutions. It's also spy-free, unlike Google and Microsoft.
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Exactly.

The last thing you should consider when it comes to your data is price. Reliability is far more important. I have been burned by so many providers making big promises and then having them disappear or wipe everything out or duplicate data over and over. Dropbox is the only one that hasn't screwed up yet.

I see...

That's something that I've already taken for granted. I've only ever used Dropbox. And it always surprises me how, regardless of which service I edit files on, that only the most recently edited file gets synced to everything else. I don't think it's every overwritten any new files for me.

Scary to imagine that would be an issue with any other provider. Thank you for the heads up!

 

[akbarali.ch]

So now i can have 1 less icon in the system tray, good.

 

[ihackalot]

$9.99/ month for storage is very expensive. Might as well get a free FTP server and spend 15 minutes learning how to use it. Drop box is designed for being lazy.

ftp server... 15 minutes... into a cloud... dude you are going to hit that wall hard.

 

[occamsrazor]

Only apps keeping me in any tier of Dropbox at this point: Scrivener (for occasional use, since I've moved on to other writing apps), 1Password, and the RoadTrip iOS app

Also a Roadtrip user.... it's a great app. I'd actually be willing to pay for Dropbox, as I find their software to work perfectly for me, but $10 a month is too much and I don't need 1TB. If they offered something like 50GB or even 20GB for $1 or $2 a month I'd be up for it.

 

[Peepo]

I noticed this setting up new iPad Pro. I use it to sync 1Password. Now I will change it to iCloud. I transitioned away to OneDrive a couple years ago so this doesn’t affect me otherwise. Seems like all free things must end one day.

 

[Dimwhit]

Based on the comments, I do worry about my files being zeroed out, so I just included my OneDrive is my backup routines. Time Machine will back all the files up, so they'll be easy to put back if they disappear. I also close my drive every night and use Backblaze, as well. So I'll be covered on that end. We'll see if it's ever an issue for me. But for the first time in a LONG time, I don't have Dropbox on my computer. And after I spent so long getting my 25GB of free storage with Dropbox...

I pay for Dropbox Pro, which gives me Selective Sync. Both OneDrive and iCloud's versions let me download files when I use them, but I can't specify a file/folder to either always be downloaded, or always online. I have a lot of saved PDFs and the like I don't really care if they are on the physical drive or not.

I just moved my files from Dropbox to OneDrive. OneDrive let me select which folders to download to each of my computers and which to just leave in the cloud. Isn't that basically selective sync?

 

[maflynn]

I've long stopped using dropbox and have largely moved on to OneDrive

 

[Brammy]

OneDrive let me select which folders to download to each of my computers and which to just leave in the cloud. Isn't that basically selective sync?

I think I got the marketing terms mixed up. I think meant Dropbox Smart Sync, where I can choose file/folder to remain only in the cloud, but show up on the Finder on my Mac.

 

[Dimwhit]

I think I got the marketing terms mixed up. I think meant Dropbox Smart Sync, where I can choose file/folder to remain only in the cloud, but show up on the Finder on my Mac.

Ah. I've never actually heard of that. Guess I won't miss it. 🙂

 

[Peepo]

I think I got the marketing terms mixed up. I think meant Dropbox Smart Sync, where I can choose file/folder to remain only in the cloud, but show up on the Finder on my Mac.

You can do this with latest versions of Onedrive in macOS and Windows. I have this setup and works good - it’s a setting you have to enable and then you get the options right clicking on file or folder.

I have now removed my reliance on Dropbox and will never subscribe to them again.

 

[LillyAnna]

Have you ever heard of pCloud? They DO NOT have such limitation for FREE users, and they are the only one cloud storage with a Lifetime plan- € 175 for 500 GB Forever. This is why Switzerland is famous for quality.

 

[Maggie Adair]

I have a Dropbox basic (free) account that I share with my spouse and we use on more than 3 devices. When I received the letter from Dropbox saying the limit was 3 but current devices were grandfathered in I thought I’d see how many devices I had. I found two old computers and two old phones and removed them both. A few days later I noticed on my MacBook Pro that the Dropbox icon was greyed out. After further investigation, two Dropbox chat sessions, and about 8 emails back and forth from Dropbox, I learned that Dropbox had not only dropped my MacBookPro, they had said it was NEVER linked and refused to add in it. My suspicion is that my old computer had only the same name (MacBookPro2009) from my current computer (MacBookPro2012) and that they had a technical glitch. The other option is they are dishonest and doing this on purpose. So the choices are: (1) technical glitch and Dropbox unaware it exists (very scary since they are supposed to protect our data), (2) technical glitch and Dropbox is unwilling to fix it which shows really poor customer support, or (3) they are intentionally creating these technical glitches so people will be forced to pony up the $9.99 a month for 1 TB when they’d much rather pay less for less storage. In my case I have a free account that is shared with several paid accounts and $120 is WAY too much for what Dropbox provides that I already can get with iCloud, OneDrive, and Google Drive. People for years have been telling Dropbox to lower their plans and they’d pay. Instead of listening to their Basic customers,,,they basically screwed them.

 

[sananda]

Dropbox users who already have their account attached to more than three devices can keep them linked, but there will be no way to link additional devices when over the three device limit.

I recently found out to my cost that, if you have more than three devices, you can’t keep your iOS devices linked if you delete and reinstall the Dropbox app.