Box Sync (for Mac Freezes, Won't Finish Syncing.
Whenever I start box sync, it seems to begin working alright, but eventually freezes. Now when I scroll over the icon at the top of the screen it.
There are plenty of reasons to put things into the cloud, be it as a backup or to access them remotely from other devices. But putting things into the cloud can be a hassle — Apple's trying to make it a little more seamless with iCloud but if you're old school like me, that seamlessness just doesn't do it for you. There's something about having all my computer's files neatly organized and accessible that soothes my more obsessive tendencies. At the same time, I want to be able to access my important files while I'm on the go, and I want to know that they're backed up in case catastrophe strikes. That's where the cloud really comes in. I've got a local running (two, actually) and I use, and though I can use Backblaze to access files from my iPhone, it's just terribly slow. Enter Dropbox Dropbox, on the other hand, is blazing fast.
Uploads and downloads sling through the web as fast as my connection can handle. I can open the and get to all the files in there with ease and speed.
But there were two basic options for backing up my files to Dropbox: either copy them over regularly, or just move them onto Dropbox (oh, the humanity). Turns out, there's another way, one in which you can keep your folders and files right where they are and have them backed up and synced with Dropbox. It all works through the magic of symbolic links. How does this work? You might be familiar with alias links on your Mac — it creates a shortcut that points to another file, open the shortcut and it opens that file. A symbolic link is similar, except that instead of creating a pointer it creates a redirect.
Whatever you do with the symbolic link (or symlink) is applied to the linked file. Dropbox works by creating a folder on your computer that is synced with their servers. Place a file in that folder and it's synced to the cloud. Upload a file from a Dropbox app or their web interface and it'll be downloaded onto your computer. Basically, that's it. Thing is, if you want to back up files to Dropbox, copying them into that folder means they're taking up space twice on your hard drive, and just moving them to Dropbox takes them right out of your organizational flow.
Put a tiny symlink into Dropbox and it can back up an entire folder elsewhere on your computer If you were to create an alias to a file and put that in the Dropbox folder, only the alias would get backed up, and that's not terribly useful. But if you put a symlink into the Dropbox folder, when the Dropbox backup app looks at it it's redirected to the linked file, and it backs that up instead. So with one 25-byte symlink you can back up gigabytes upon gigabytes of data without duplicating it on your computer. The additional benefit is that you can sync and back up entire directories that would be otherwise difficult to move. You can put your Pictures folder into Dropbox with a symlink or your entire Documents folder. Heck, you could even sync and back up your Mac's desktop files and installed apps. This sounds too good to be true There are some caveats to note here.
Box Sync (for Mac Freezes Won't Finish Syncing.)
The first is cost: Dropbox does offer a free tier, and it's a paltry 2GB. That might be enough for you, but chances are if you're planning on putting an entire folder like Documents in there you'll need more space. Thankfully, Dropbox isn't terribly expensive, offering 1TB of storage for $9.99/month. Chances are you'd be able to back up your entire computer onto that if you really wanted to. There are risks that come with putting your files into the cloud, of course, and they come down to you to manage them. Make sure you have a strong and unique Dropbox password and use pin or in the mobile apps when available.
If you change a file on your phone or with Dropbox on the web, that file will be synced down to your computer, and vice versa. The biggest risk you run, however, is inherent to Dropbox itself: any changes made to a file in Dropbox are synced to all devices linked to that account.
So if you change a file from your phone, that file is saved on the server and synced down to your computer with those changes. If you delete a file from the web interface, it's deleted from your computer. And vice versa. Dropbox does offer paying customers and, but it's still worth noting the risks of what you're wading into here. Those risks are minor, though. Set and practice good security and be conscious of what you're doing with your files and you'll be in good shape — and your files will be there for you whenever and wherever you need them. How to sync folders on your Mac to Dropbox.
Download and install the Dropbox app from (download will start automatically). Once you've got the Dropbox app up and running, open Terminal. Navigate in Terminal to your Dropbox folder by typing cd /Users/YourMacUsernameHere/Dropbox and then hitting return. A new line in Terminal will appear that's Your-Computer-Name:Dropbox YourUserName$. Create your symbolic link by typing ln -s /FolderNameHere and hitting return. A folder will appear in your Dropbox folder with the alias/shortcut arrow and it will immediately begin uploading.
To create a symlink to your Desktop, type ln -s /Desktop. To create a symlink to your Documents folder, type ln -s /Documents. To create a symlink to any other folder or file, simply type its file path after ln -s /FilePathGoesHere — this is useful for if you want to back up most your Documents folder, but not necessarily everything in there (for instance, a 30GB Windows virtual machine from Parallels). To create a symlink to a folder or file with a space in its name, put a backslash before the space, like so: ln -s /Documents/Star Trek Aldrin.
Dropbox will start uploading your symlinked folders.
Do not connect your iPod to your computer. Click 'Help' in the upper-left hand corner and then click 'Check for Updates' to check for an iTunes software update. Install an update if one is available. Close iTunes and restart your computer after the update is finished installing. Click the 'Start' icon in the lower-left corner of the Windows home screen. Type 'Update' in the Search box and press 'Enter.' The Windows Update dialog box appears.
Select the critical updates and click 'OK' and then 'Install Updates.' Enter your password if prompted.
Click 'Finish' when the updates are finished installing. Restart your computer. Open iTunes and then connect your iPod to your computer to see if iTunes still freezes up. Do not connect your iPod. If you are using Mac OS X, click 'iTunes' from the menu in the upper-left corner of the iTunes program window and then click 'Preferences.'
If you are using Windows 7, click 'Edit' from the menu in the upper-left corner of the iTunes program window and then click 'Preferences.' The 'iTunes' dialog box will appear on the screen. Select the 'Devices' tab and then click to check the box to the left of 'Prevent iPods, iPhones and iPads from syncing automatically.' Connect your iPod to your computer to see if iTunes still freezes. If your device is successfully recognized, click the name of your device from beneath 'Devices' on the left side of the program window and then select the various tabs above your iPod summary box on the right side of the program window and uncheck all but one of the 'Sync' boxes associated with those tabs.
Disconnect and then reconnect the device, each time leaving a different 'Sync' box checked to see if syncing any content on your device is the source of the problem. Close iTunes. Do not connect your iPod to your computer. Navigate to the following folder if you are using Windows 7: 'C: Users username App Data Roaming Apple Computer iTunes iTunes Plug-ins.' Navigate to the following folder if you are using Mac OS X: '/Library/iTunes/iTunes Plug-ins.' Cut the 'iTunes Plug-ins' folder from its current location and then paste it on your desktop. Open iTunes and connect your iPod to your computer to see if the device freezes up.
If the device is successfully recognized, do not reinstall any of the plug-ins before consulting the company you downloaded the plug-ins from. If iTunes still freezes up, do not replace the plug-ins, as they still may be part of the problem.