does dropbox for mac put a copy on your mac too

The Backblaze software can only backup files that are stored locally on the computer's hard disks. I want to clear off a bunch of hard drive space in my Mac, and use the gigantic external drives I just bought to be redundancies of my important files, but also still have those files be: 1) backed up with BackBlaze and Time Machine (as further, more live-updating backups/redundancies), and 2) have them be in the 'Smart Sync, Online-Only' Dropbox location so that I can view them on the fly one at a time without actually 'having' them on my Mac.Ĭan anyone in the community explain a good workflow for this or even just how the software and files get handled in various scenarios I've listed?Ĭhristopher from the Backblaze support team here -> I'm trying to create redundancies for security and peace of mind for all my family photos. Second (bigger) question: But what happens when a backup software 'sees' these Online-Only 'alias' files? Is it downloading it from Dropbox, backing it up to, then putting it back up in the cloud? Or does it stay local once it's used? Or, worse even: is the backup software only backing up the 'alias' file and the actual original photo/video is not being backed up at all? The purpose of having all these photos and videos set to 'Online Only' is because I don't have enough internal storage on my Mac, but want to be able to browse and access them when needed, one at a time. I know that Smart Sync files are supposed to function as such: when something calls for it (Finder, Photoshop, or even software like BackBlaze or Time Machine), the file gets downloaded to the internal hard drive on the fly.įirst question: Does the Smart Sync file then go back to 'Online Only' once the software has backed it up or generally 'used' it?

This works great.until you consider Backblaze or even Time Machine. But once I get them onto my external drives, I want to tuck them away OFF my Mac's internal storage and only see the originals in my Finder as 'Online Only' via Dropbox's Smart Sync feature. I have a trove of family photos and videos that I'm in the process of backing up in a variety of ways: external hard drives, and Dropbox being the main two.

(I'm going to cross-post this in Dropbox and even Mac Time Machine subs too because I have no idea who has the right answer).

Does dropbox for mac put a copy on your mac too