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Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive support?

deuxani

deuxani

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 2, 2010
718
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I'm really eying that Mac Mini, but I use Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive macOS Finder integration for various clients. Did I understand correctly that these apps won't work through Rosetta and therefore are dependant on an Apple Silicon specific app being delivered by the developers? That might take a while knowing Google.... And Dropbox also isn't the quickest. These apps are crucial for me, so if they don't work I will probably have to wait a while before I can get a new Mac.
 
deuxani said:
I'm really eying that Mac Mini, but I use Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive macOS Finder integration for various clients. Did I understand correctly that these apps won't work through Rosetta and therefore are dependant on an Apple Silicon specific app being delivered by the developers? That might take a while knowing Google.... And Dropbox also isn't the quickest. These apps are crucial for me, so if they don't work I will probably have to wait a while before I can get a new Mac.
Click to expand...
That's a good question.

I wonder if these integration will get fast tracked. Doing this work through the browser (or an iOS app? Files) will be a terrible experience.
 
I don't see why not because the new Big Sur OS will allow you to use iOS apps (DropBox, Google Drive, Sheets, Team share, etc) on a Mac now....

I use Microsoft Office 2019 for Mac and 365 on my Macs so I hope Rosetta 2 will solve that....
 
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deuxani said:
These apps are crucial for me, so if they don't work I will probably have to wait a while before I can get a new Mac.
Click to expand...

Seriously, folks, don't upgrade on day one unless you have the time/money/energy to mess about, and a second Mac to get you through the transition period. That applies to installing Big Sur on Intel tomorrow (since when has everything worked on day one of a major MacOS release?) let alone switching to Apple Silicon.

At least wait a couple of weeks until developers start announcing ASi compatibility and the "early adopters" have found out what does and doesn't work under Rosetta.
 
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MrKennedy said:
That's a good question.

I wonder if these integration will get fast tracked. Doing this work through the browser (or an iOS app? Files) will be a terrible experience.
Click to expand...

Yeah through the browser would be near to impossible as a replacement. That would mean manual file syncing!


citivolus said:
Good point, as I am in the same boat. But why wouldn't they work through Rosetta?
Click to expand...

I read somewhere that Dropbox didn't work, because these are not regular apps like Office, Twitter, etc. but extensions / plugins / services that run in the background. Windows on ARM had the same issue.


4sallypat said:
I don't see why not because the new Big Sur OS will allow you to use iOS apps (DropBox, Google Drive, Sheets, Team share, etc) on a Mac now....

I use Microsoft Office 2019 for Mac and 365 on my Macs so I hope Rosetta 2 will solve that....
Click to expand...

But these are not regular apps like Office, Twitter, etc. but extensions / plugins / services that run in the background, because they have to be integrated in Finder and be able to compare and sync files. Windows on ARM had the same issue, Dropbox and Google Drive didn't work.


theluggage said:
Seriously, folks, don't upgrade on day one unless you have the time/money/energy to mess about, and a second Mac to get you through the transition period. That applies to installing Big Sur on Intel tomorrow (since when has everything worked on day one of a major MacOS release?) let alone switching to Apple Silicon.

At least wait a couple of weeks until developers start announcing ASi compatibility and the "early adopters" have found out what does and doesn't work under Rosetta.
Click to expand...

I'm definitely not buying on day 1, especially the MacBooks, they look so outdated with their huge bezels and 720p webcam. But if these drive apps work, together with Office, Remote Desktop and the Affinity Suite, I could take the plunge with a Mac mini.
 
OneDrive should be fine because it is a vanilla Mac app distributed through the App Store.

Dropbox at least uses weird system hooks that are a lot more likely to break.
 
Well I just ordered a base M1 Mini so I'll be testing it against my super reliable, quick and very beefed up: 2012 Mini Server i7 w/ 16GB RAM and dual 1 TB SSD.

Because it lacks the TB2 port, I had to order a TB3-TB2 dongle to connect my external LaCie SSD...
 
aednichols said:
OneDrive should be fine because it is a vanilla Mac app distributed through the App Store.

Dropbox at least uses weird system hooks that are a lot more likely to break.
Click to expand...

Seems you might be right:

"The latest release of apps including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, and OneDrive can be installed on devices that are based on the Apple Silicon architecture. For the best experience, install the November 2020 release (build 16.43), or later. This release of Office includes the latest optimizations for macOS Big Sur, which is the first operating system to support Apple Silicon.

Apple Silicon processors can run apps that are compiled for the Intel chipset through a software technology known as Rosetta 2. This translation layer is automatically enabled in macOS Big Sur and provides users with access to all features in Microsoft's apps including support for third-party add-ins. End-users and business customers can use existing methods to install and deploy Office."

Microsoft 365, Office 2021, and Office 2019 support for Apple silicon - Microsoft Support

support.microsoft.com support.microsoft.com
 
theluggage said:
Seriously, folks, don't upgrade on day one unless you have the time/money/energy to mess about, and a second Mac to get you through the transition period. That applies to installing Big Sur on Intel tomorrow (since when has everything worked on day one of a major MacOS release?) let alone switching to Apple Silicon.

At least wait a couple of weeks until developers start announcing ASi compatibility and the "early adopters" have found out what does and doesn't work under Rosetta.
Click to expand...
Very good advice. I have ordered an MBAir M1 chip for testing and evaluation only. I will be keeping my Intel based Macs (which I updated relatively recently) for day to day use and until I am sure I can use an M1 powered Mac for my work etc. Like many others I use Dropbox, One Drive, Adobe, OKTA, VMs etc. and if they do not work I cannot use the machine except for documents and web browsing. Let's see how this all pans out over time. But if you need a new machine now and use anything other than Apple applications, you should either wait or buy one of the Intel based Macs.
 
whitby said:
Very good advice. I have ordered an MBAir M1 chip for testing and evaluation only. I will be keeping my Intel based Macs (which I updated relatively recently) for day to day use and until I am sure I can use an M1 powered Mac for my work etc. Like many others I use Dropbox, One Drive, Adobe, OKTA, VMs etc. and if they do not work I cannot use the machine except for documents and web browsing. Let's see how this all pans out over time. But if you need a new machine now and use anything other than Apple applications, you should either wait or buy one of the Intel based Macs.
Click to expand...
Based on the Beta, Big Sur on Intel is remarkably mature compared to some of the more recent MacOSX offerings.
 
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deuxani said:
I'm really eying that Mac Mini, but I use Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive macOS Finder integration for various clients. Did I understand correctly that these apps won't work through Rosetta and therefore are dependant on an Apple Silicon specific app being delivered by the developers? That might take a while knowing Google.... And Dropbox also isn't the quickest. These apps are crucial for me, so if they don't work I will probably have to wait a while before I can get a new Mac.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that it would take as long as some people have opined. All of those apps already have iOS and Android versions, which already run on ARM-based processors. This means that the base code is already written and released. Recompiling the existing iOS apps to be cross-platform wouldn't take up a lot of time or resources, and they can always rewrite elements of the code to take advantage of the larger screen on the Mac.
 
Waiting on official word for Google Backup & Sync. I'm hopeful, based on the day one (err two) Google Chrome support that was pushed out!
 
just logged into my dropbox account on their website and then chose the option to download the installer. when I ran it, it prompted me to install Rosetta and then went normally from there.
 
MK500 said:
Same here. Dropbox macOS version seems to be working perfectly on my new Air. I ran the update to macOS 11.0.1 before installing Drobox in case that matters.
Click to expand...
Same. Dropbox seems to be working fine and the latest version is specifically called out as compatible (although it's Intel, not Universal for now)

Dropbox desktop client builds | The Dropbox Community

Download the latest Dropbox beta or stable build.
www.dropboxforum.com www.dropboxforum.com
 
Really great feedback here! So Dropbox and OneDrive are working fine, but Google Backup and Sync doesn't. 2 out of 3 is still 2 more than I expected :)
 
theluggage said:
Seriously, folks, don't upgrade on day one unless you have the time/money/energy to mess about, and a second Mac to get you through the transition period. That applies to installing Big Sur on Intel tomorrow (since when has everything worked on day one of a major MacOS release?) let alone switching to Apple Silicon.

At least wait a couple of weeks until developers start announcing ASi compatibility and the "early adopters" have found out what does and doesn't work under Rosetta.
Click to expand...
I've ordered a Mac Mini but am keeping my Intel MBP16 for work use, until I'm happy that everything I need is working correctly on Apple Silicon. I'll run the two machines in parallel and attempt to install all my regular software on the M1 Mini to test performance.
 
Is there any news on Google Backup & Sync? Have they released an update or are work arounds in place?
 
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