We changed computers – ours were old – and I had to reinstall the Dropbox to get all of our documents. The computer has a dual drive, C for the operating system and D with much larger capacity for everything else.
Me: Download Dropbox to D drive.
Dropbox: Okay!
Me: Install dropbox.
Dropbox: Okay!
I check the file path. It’s C.
Me: Google, fix this.
Google: Here are some results from 2012!
Me: Grr. Limit search by year.
Google: Here you go.
Me: Okay, so I open Dropbox app, click on the settings, properties, click on move, then tell it where to go. Dropbox, do this.
Dropbox: I am still syncing. You have 4,000 documents.
Me:… How… Nevermind.
Dropbox: Synching. Syyyynching. Ok, done.
Dad: What are you doing on your computer? Do you need help?
Me: No, thank you. Dropbox, move yourself.
Dropbox: Where shall I move the files, Dread Mistress?
Me: D:/Documents/Dropbox.
Dropbox: Done.
Me: Save document in Dropbox.
PC: Um, no. Path incorrect.
Me: For the love of… Where is it? It’s not in the C drive still, is it? Where did I install Dropbox?
PC: D drive under Socuments.
Me: Oh. Rename file.
PC: Um, no. The file is in use by the open app…
Me: FINE. SOCUMENTS IT IS. I just want to access the file to get a snippet.
Documents: None of your files are accessible. You need to relink your account.
Me: Relink Dropbox.
Dropbox: Good news, I’ve installed myself to your C drive.
Me: It’s 2019. Why in the name of the bloody nine hells can’t I f***ing change the f***ing install path. &*#$%@^&@!
Dropbox: I am synching, you have 4,000 files, please wait.
And this is why there is no snippet this morning.
But you tried!
It is the thought that counts! 😉
+1 And that’s why I stopped using Dropbox by the way, out of frustration (I use Megashare, and so far so good)
Hahahaha…..
I already hate Google. Now I can hate Dropbox as well.
+1
I laughed so hard I snorted coffee!
Yes, we have all been there. Sympathy to you….
Ditto! Been there done that. Sympathy going out to you!
Thank you. I really needed to laugh today. Sorry Dropbox is stupid. I wish you much luck in getting it worked out.
I was literally in the same boat a few weeks ago. A friend needed a truly vast amount of data (raw video) pulled down from DropBox, and manual download was failing, as the files can’t exceed 2GB that way. He had enough DropBox space to pull down everything, but not enough hard drive space. I even did the same google search you did to figure out how to change the DropBox directory. The big difference in our experiences was that I paused syncing before I changed and double checked the directory.
You can both pause syncing and quit DropBox so that it stops accessing the directory and preventing the movement of files. You can also remove DropBox from the StartUp Apps (Windows) or LogIn Items (Mac) if you need to reboot and sort your directories before DropBox takes control of its directory system.
If you didn’t need those tips, sorry I bothered. I, too, understand how useful it is to vent about the stupidity of automated programming for ease of use that makes everything far too complicated.
Probably a little late now. But with windows 10 there is an easy fix. before installing, go ahead and create the directory dropbox wants to use on c drive. On d drive create the folder you want to use for dropbox. open command prompt or powershell. type “mklink /j c:\dropbox_path d:\dropbox_path” Now anything written to the c drive directory will actually be written to the d drive
Ah, yes, of course you can create an alias (or link)… but, well, you really shouldn’t have to lie to the computer to get the software to do what you want it to…
And thus, frustrations.
That whole thing makes me long for a typewriter and stationary so I’m in control. I wouldn’t make any money to keep, it would all go to my tech expert just to keep me current. Good luck with the issues, we’re always salivating for snippets.
Looking forward to the snippet when it can be done. I hope you’re both enjoying HL5. I know we don’t have HL4 (Saphire Flames) yet, and I know you need to get HL5 done before you can get to Iron Covenant 2 before the end of the year. But can you give us a hint as to when HL5 will be published, with the understanding that you are just getting underway?
We (my husband and I) call this “squeal like a pig” from the Dilbert cartoon
Mordac talking to Dilbert about changing passwords – i dont know how to attach (or find to attach, sorry) the panel re frequently changing passwords with lots of rules hence “squeal like a pig” ?
I seriously hate Dropbox. I refuse to use it other than as an emergency backup. I use Scrivener to write, and I have it set where it saves like 7 backups of everything, lol, and then syncs itself to Dropbox in the case of an emergency. Every time I have to use it for some multi-author sharing like an anthology, I curse and grumble. Also, Google Docs can die in a fire.
Oh, man. I feel your pain. I’m the untrained, unqualified, default tech support person in my office (because no one else will bother to learn anything other than how to turn a computer on, argh), and I have spent my share of hours cursing technology and all those who had a hand in its invention. User friendly, my @ss.
At a previous job, the IT department lived in dread of “why is the computer screen black?”, which usually turned out to be a) the computer was not turned ON, or b) the computer was not plugged in. So, when I called with “I have an error message, it says (read error message here)”, the usual response was a giggle and “we love you, you’re the only person who tells us that”, and someone would come and fix whatever was not connecting correctly.
So, yeah, those of us who are not tech savvy are many and in need of help. (I hope you get lots of thank-yous from your colleagues!!!)
My heart goes out to you. Work just uninstalled Dropbox after we migrated everything company wide. Reason? They hated dealing with Dropbox’s quirks.
Sososo!!! Relate. I spend extra time researching youtubing taking classes actually buying real books to obtain the skills to do anything TECH. It is always just dog farts tears and timetimetime. Keep thinking I will acquire enough experience and context to make it easier. Nope. Not yet.
“Dog farts and tears” sums it up perfectly. Thank you for that!
I have a friend who LOVES dropbox, and can’t comprehend why I refuse to get on board. I think I will send him this page. LOL.
I’ve never used Dropbox, and after reading this, I never will. 😀
I said possibly those same exact words when I had Windows 10 installed on my personal computer. Microsoft makes you jump through hoops to get things turned off (like personal data sent directly to Microsoft “to enhance user experience”) so I am not spied upon when using my computer. Microsoft Edge is even more crazy. One time Microsoft Edge didn’t close on my computer, and I got this warning from Microsoft to call an 800 number to get it closed. After fighting with the person on the other end to stop holding my computer hostage, I bought McAfee to clean out my computer every time I’m online. There have been a couple of times I would get a warning box from McAfee saying MS Edge wasn’t closed before cleaning and the McAfee software closes it out. Ha! That’s my way of thumbing my nose at “user-friendly” software. The data mining MS does wants to take over your life. Grrr…….
I don’t use Edge, I use Chrome or Firefox (mainly Chrome). I tried Edge once then abandoned it when I found out you couldn’t edit your bookmarks – you had to delete the bookmark then recreate it, to which I replied: Nope, see yas.
It’s really annoying that they won’t let you turn off or uninstall Edge. I manually go through and change the default apps to not be Edge, but it won’t let you change them all. Grrrrrrr…….
We use Enterprise on a closed network at work, and you can modify group policy to default to IE11. I need to upgrade my home PC to Win 10 Pro to see if it will let me do the same. Otherwise I might have to go to Enterprise. You can turn off so much garbage using Win 10 Enterprise. Like Cortana, or at least parts of Cortana.
We use Windows 10 Pro at work, but I haven’t tried to do a group policy to stop it. I haven’t had much luck with group polices. The last one (due to a recommendation from auditors) was supposed to stop usb’s unless it was a specific user, but it stopped all drives for all users. I gave up and just got the risk accepted. Good luck with your home computer! ?
It’s sounds really frustrating, but I really thank you for sharing it. I couldn’t help but relate somewhat and have a bit of a laugh 🙂
I often wonder how we survived this long without google!
It’s called encyclopedias. ?
We had the full set of Encyclopedia Britannica. I think. 🙂
But you can’t check out something like the finer points of Dark Knight Rises without Google- a super critical argument with my kids of course (I was wrong – and why do I argue with my boys about Batman? : ( )
You just have to pick the Michael Keaton era of Batman. Bet they haven’t seen it. ?
lol I know it must have been frustrating beyond words but the socument story lol. Gave me a laugh. Thanks
Computer programs are magic. Call in the wizard to fix it!
<3
LOL! I mean, I shouldn’t laugh, but I’ve BTDT (just not with Dropbox, specifically).
Oh, I don’t miss Dropbox, or why I needed it, but I NEED to get my computer to call me Dread Mistress. Love it.
Gotta looooove computers!
I’m stuck using dropbox for now because that is where my thesis and life are backed up for now. But I just got an email that they are increasing my storage to 2 TB and adding smart sync. I dont need 1 TB of storage I already have . They are going to charge me at least 20 bucks more for this privilege. So now I need to find an alternate back up service for less than 120/year
That just happened to me! But then I looked, and it still doesn’t have selective sync. I didn’t know about the price increase. Now I’m even more aggravated…
THIS. SO MUCH THIS.
I also have the lovely problem of Dropbox trying to sync my Sims 4 files. I have ALL of the EP/SP/GP. Why won’t it let us choose what to put in there, and what not to??
I just want my writing folder and my homework folder in there, – THAT’S IT. So WHY does it have to also sync the mods and save files?!
Rage. So. Much. Rage.
Lmaoooooo! I shamelessly leave stuff like that to my tech minded hunny. I do NOT have the patience. I threaten my office computer with “Death by Semi” (the highway goes thru our town by our office) multiple times a month. ??⛟
Oh no!!!!! I feel your frustration…. Thanks for trying though. I appreciate you both including your munchkins and other workers.
I feel your pain with transferring socuments* however, yahfor new computers!
(note to self when reading authorlords posts, ensure only clear fluids and no foods, nearby .)
Well, socuments seems like a great place to put rock em and sock em scenes. I hate switching things over. We lost everything on our old computer because we paid Geek squad to move stuff and the tech did not listen when we said don’t shut down the drive-it’s failing. I could have done better myself. Sigh. Best of luck. Maybe sacrifice a chicken??! ?
I can relate and that’s why I don’t use Dropbox anymore.
OMG. So sorry for the headache of dropbox and etc. Socuments. heh. That sounds like something I would do. This was just as funny/fun as a snippet, though I know, it’s a reflection of your pain. I guess if Bug gets mad at his computer system we’ll know where the inspiration came from. 😉
I feel your pain. I’m trying to clean up my digital garage before moving files to the new laptop. I installed Dropbox, and it was all ready to download a gazillion files. I finally had to kill the process dead. I may clean up my files, delete everything on dropbox, move the saved files to both new laptop & then launch dropbox from the new laptop to back everything up. What a mess!!!
Poor baby. (Virtual platonic hugs) I’m so sorry the bad fairy visited your computer. I am reduced to this explanation, since all of that is so far past coincidence that it must be enemy action.
Hopefully, the bat-winged little blight will leave soon and you will be able to get your electronics to work the way you want them to again.
I won’t say I’m not hoping for a snippet at some point, but understand “new computer”, as I had to replace mine recently, too. I love the shiny, but getting there is a pain. (OH! Perhaps Civ VI will run on this one!)
Better than a snippet!
Oh my. Ohhhh. I would breathe fire too. Bless you for dealing with that. I’m so sorry it’s stupid.
Computers are wonderful things when they do what we tell them to do. Sometimes I think of it as a 2 year old – it will do exactly what I want when I give it absolutely no alternative. Otherwise look out. Glad you got it worked out.
I think my toddler is better behaved than the computers I have to deal with at work. Now that I’m thinking about it, it might have more to do with the computer users, but the computers are still stupid. Just went through replacing a dead one recently. ?? (I wish there was an emoji for “bangs head against a brick wall”)
There’s an animated gif somewhere. A coworker loves to use it when he complains about how slow his PC is.
I found a few, but chose this 1. ?
(Hope it works)
If you used chrome to download it automatically selects C drive you would change the download spot for download ed programs. Also once you download before you sync go into your Windows 10 apps and select Dropbox and change where you would like it stored. Hope I’m not too late to help!
This is why I’m a Luddite.
I feell your pain. I had a work computer that was so bad that I had daydreams of kicking it down all 25 flights of stairs. Never got the chance though. Computers are great when they work but otherwise they turn me into an enraged demon.
I like Socuments, but yes, Dropbox is useful but annoying. Evidently you are not the only one to have this problem. The Dropbox Community has also been through this. See
https://www.dropboxforum.com/t5/Installs-integrations/Installing-dropbox-to-a-different-hard-drive/td-p/104591
Yeah. I’ve about had it with dropbox myself. It has ground my computer to a complete standstill. And why do I need to pay for business dropbox? To get selective sync! Because they have my computer hostage!!!
At one stage I kept a small skull candle near my computer. In times of inexplicable tech failure I would light the candle before trying yet again to do the simple task at hand. Lighting the candle seemed to help (probably due to the law of averages) and if it didn’t it gave tech support an extra thing to giggle at.
Smudge stick. Also used it in an attempt to keep a bad boss away.
So we would have received a snippet had Dropbox not been nasty? I am now very annoyed at Dropbox. Snippets are delightful and NOT TO BE TRIFLED WITH!
Bad Dropbox! Knock it off. Be NICE to Ilona and Gordon!
Why IS Dropbox so bloody infuriating!!!! I shouldn’t be so happy that someone else is having an aneurysm trying to use it, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t laughing while reading this ??.
Dropbox hate. So relatable! On holiday recently trying to install it so I could upload photos to clear memory and just got lots of big, fat NOPE.
I have come to the conclusion that Dropbox hates me and clearly saw me coming.
Ps Dead Mistress. Best ever!
Omg – autocorrect ?♀️
*Dread
I have the same conversation with my pc. My DH “What did you just say?” I repeat it slowly in case he has trouble understanding. DH grins and says “That’s what I thought. I’m telling your mom!” I’m 59 yrs old and he’s going to tell my mom? As I start to fix the pc “Go ahead who do you think taught me?” DH rolling my chair away from the desk. “Ok we dont fix the nice computer by hitting it with a coke can and calling it a *!%@#$”
Could have fooled me.
Hmm, ah hahaha heeheehee!!! “Socuments” I love it!
And the evil disobedient %^$#÷=-%! Dropbox. Yeah, synch, ya pain in the rear! Grrrrr! I swear some SW exists just to thwart us all! Can you hear it snickering?!? No I am not imagining things! (Much).
I wish you many few keypresses to subdue the dang thing & get it (forcibly!) relocated back over to :\D
YES
U R the ? …
but … taking to the hammer ?
Breathe in breathe out
this was almost better than a snip
lol… I usually follow up with colorful threats to throw the whole shebang out the window.
I love this picture!!! I’m stealing it for work!
Bwahahahhaha I fucking love the BDH
#$%ing computer anything! I make my living on them and I can’t wait to retire, so I can stop computing and commuting!!!
+1
+1
I take that the Visit of the Father is progressing?
And that’s the reason i’m a preacher & musician.
I blew up a computer in the early 80s trying to put a floppy disc in. Teacher said he would pass me so i could graduate, but to please never darken his door again. Now i get the 15 & 9yo to do all the major things. Email & surfing/shopping are my strong abilities.
Or, like Newton Pulsifer, you could join the Witchfinder army and eventually use your destructive powers to save the world!
You win the internet today
Blame it on Crowwley.
2nd
I have the same talent. ?
Or Harry Dresden.
Isn’t technology grand? I’ve learned to watch for the drive letters thanks to similar situations in the past! I do like that it addressed you as Dread Mistress, but does this mean I have to keep an eye out for a new Boss on Oricon?? ? I do have a young Sniper who needs those ops! =)
I’m retired from the computing world where I made my living for 35+ years.
Rename the drives. C drive should NEVER, EVER be your operating system drive because it’s the default drive on 99.9999% of all software. Change it to any other letter of the alphabet and make drive D, C. Then all should go well.
+1
OMG, so sorry that this happened to you but glad to know it’s not just me!
Time to practice Technology Zen the Art of NOT Throwing Your Computer Out The Window. We love you
+1
Well, I’m sorry we didn’t get the snippet, but I can’t say I didn’t get a laugh!
Sorry you were frustrated, but appreciate you sharing.
Have fun with your Dad!
This is why my favorite movie scene ever is the one from Office Space where they take the printer out and beat it with baseball bats to gangster rap!!! I watch it again on youtube now and then when I’m frustrated. It will make u feel better!
Excellent scene – and movie!
Inventions of the devil put on the earth to drive us insane. (Along with printers and cell phones)
But a Mac. Problem solved.
Why would the problem be solved by buying a Mac? Dropbox is not a windows-specific app. I would still have the exact same issue.
Even if I chose to buy a Mac – or, you know, decided to stab myself in the eye, because owning Mac is about that much fun – I would end up with a system that cost 1.5 as much for the same performance, was unable to run any of my games, and had the most idiotic UI ever. And if it broke, as every Mac I owned did, I would have to send it off to Apple care and lose 3 weeks of work. No thanks.
Sure, but all that snazzy design on a Mac means it’s more aerodynamic so when you toss that one out the window, it’ll manage some serious hang time and distance, that’s gotta be worth the extra money, right…?
XD
Sorry, couldn’t resist 🙂
So I’m not the only non-Mac person out there. Nice to know.
Ahhhhhhh we were so close to a snippet!!!!! Curse you Dropbox.
Hahahahaha…Dropbox has its uses…but yah….the horror stories…but what else do you use?
I’m an IT professional, so I fix issues with computers all day…you wouldn’t believe some of the issues…I’m almost 40 and most of the people that I deal with are in their 20s just don’t get it…
I learned many years ago to never ever ask a program to put anything in a non-default location. Every developer uses a not-so-new software development method called Agile. What it means is that they update their program every 2 weeks and release it to customers. If the customers complain the company puts the complaint in a queue ordered by priority. When you are a large customer, or there is a huge outcry, they actually plan to insert the fix into into their two-weeks schedule during perhaps the next 5 years or so. It is very important never to test anything, because the testing delay will enable the competition to come out with features before they do. The safest bet is to use the program exactly the way the @#%%$! developer thought it should be used, because that’s the only way it was actually tested. You should have a large C drive with a standard directory structure and no socuments. Socuments are dangerous. Having a D drive is so 2018!
Perhaps you should file under Mocuments?
When Dropbox changed it’s default location to C:\ drive I gave up trying to get it to save somewhere else. After it ‘d do an automatic software update I’d end up with multiple drobpox folders !!!! I’ve ended up custom syncing each machine separately.
Dropbox is convenient but it drives me nuts ?
Try Microsoft OneDrive – it’s the bees knees. And pretty darn seamless. I do not know if you can make it work on a D drive as I’ve not tried that. I do know that it syncs between multiple computers just dandy and keeps all my shizzle in sync pretty nicely. It has it’s own quirks though, like occasionally duplicating a file. So it’s not perfect. Nothing is perfect. I also tend to go overboard with the cloud storage and have a scheduled task replicating the data to Google Drive and iCloud so that it’s in three places so when the zombie apocalypse hits I should be able to find my data somewhere at least. Or I’m just giving the hackers three tries at getting to my data.
Go with Google drive. It doesn’t need to sync to the computer cause it’s in the cloud and if you need some one to look at something, all you need to do is add them as a read only user to the one file. I won’t go back to Drop box. took me one time of resyncing and I lost it.
You’d find me in the corner screaming into a pillow. I’m classy like that :).
I work with computers on the daily… except, the computers I work on are completely locked down by our IT department, who are MAJORLY overworked, because they lock everything down! I have computer knowledge. I’m a gamer. My brother-in-law is a computer programmer who is a civilian contractor with the U.S. Military… and I can’t fix ANYTHING on my own on my work computer because it’s COMPLETELY. LOCKED. DOWN. In all fairness though, the doctors that I work for are completely computer illiterate, and if things were unlocked, they’d probably cause catastrophic results server-wide. xD
Thanks for sharing! After a long day, it’s nice to come here and enjoy your posts and the sharp wits of the BDH.
While we’re complaining about computers, I’m here behind the Great Firewall. (Well, kind of, shhhh.) If one doesn’t have the right brand of access, one cannot pretty much connect to anywhere you’d want to! On another note, a couple of my friends make and act in Chinese dramas ?
Makes me think of Packlids “ Make it go, make it go fast!”
If you are using Windows 10′ you can change the default locations for where content is saved as follows:
Settings>System>Storage>Change where content is stored
The are a number of options for different kinds of content.
Re online storage, I like Egnyte over Dropbox. It seems to be cheaper, is more secure (HIPAA compliant) and has some failsafes – deleted items go to trash for 30 days, so can be reinstated if needed by the administrator.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Sorry, the hysterical laughter is because I just – JUST- sent the bad word grouping to my daughter over a similar issue. My prayers are with you cuz some of this *@!! requires divine intervention.
For the record Dropbox is not the best file sharing software. A few years back I got a pretty nasty ransom virus because of using Dropbox
ROFLMAO
My machines fear me, dread IT 5’1” Roberts. This is because i picked up a printer, shook it over my head and a TIDDLYWINK fell out. Next I kicked my Imac and never had another problem. They are all like Crowwly’s plants now.
Husband: don’t even look at my computer. It will see you coming coming and selfdistruct!
Me: it only happened twice?
Socuments. That’s too good.
I got to experience similar with a texting tech for about, oh, 3 hours. Trying to fix MiFi wifi. Company has whole account scrambled. Turn off. Wait. Turn back on. Repeat. Finally I just started chatting with tech. The three little moving dots looked like computer- or tech was drumming her fingers… She gave me thumbs up on phrase tech rage: patience…p a t i e n c e… p. a. t. i. e. n. c. e… then poof! As you say so poetically, “*%#*, thing *%#•*, =bleep bleep +%^€€#.” ?
You must remember that every cloud has a silver lining…. you have a socuments folder…..first place to look for all your missing socks!