Move Dropbox sub-folders to other disks or volumes

May 31, '13 07:31:00AM

Contributed by: kirkmc

If you have a Mac with an SSD, and limited storage space, and use Dropbox, you may want to think about how much space your Dropbox folder takes up on your disk. Jeff Carlson, writing at TidBITS, had this problem, wanting to use Dropbox's Camera Upload feature on his MacBook Pro, but not wanting to have the space taken up on his SSD.

The solution he explains is relatively simple: it involves creating a symlink for the folder in question after moving it to another disk or volume. After moving the folder, open Terminal, then type:

cd ~/Dropbox
Type ln -s, then drag the folder from its new location into the Terminal window, which will add its path; press Return.

This symlink lets Dropbox use the Camera Uploads folder, as if it were in the main Dropbox folder, yet the files are stored on the external disk.

You can do this with other Dropbox folders as well. For me, I use Dropbox's Selective Sync (Preferences > Advanced) to choose which folders get copied to my MacBook Pro, and have everything on my Mac mini, which has more storage.

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