Dropbox Mac Os X 10.5 8

Ever since Dropbox dropped back up for PowerPC Macs running Mac OS X x.four and x.5, I've been trying to find a feasible culling to sync selected files and folders between my principal Intel Mac, my iOS devices, and my various PowerPC machines. It was so great when Dropbox worked because I more often than not use my main Intel Mac at habitation, and tend to bring with me my PowerBook G4s when out and about. As I mentioned in A modicum of synchronisation, "When Dropbox worked, my workflow was excellent. I kept everything in sync without effort. I started working on documents on the PowerBook G4 to finish them subsequently at dwelling on the MacBook Pro, and vice versa. It was a seamless process."

In the comments to that article, I was pointed to this thread at MacRumors, which explains how to make Dropbox work once again if you're using a PowerPC Mac with Mac Bone 10 ten.5 Leopard. I haven't tried this solution because I too take three Macs running Mac Bone X x.4 Tiger, and I'd really similar to sync every bit many machines equally possible.

In addition to the options I outlined in A modicum of synchronisation, in recent times I have often resorted to browsing my Dropbox archive using the web interface. Even so, and I don't know since when exactly, I oasis't been able to simply download files from Dropbox to my local auto through the web interface (using TenFourFox, which seems to be the only browser to at least load the Dropbox web interface properly). Instead of regular files, similar, say, chapter-23.rtf, I become things like wjdv6xxq.function. Frustrated, I've simply copied all the folders I want to keep in sync to my Box.com business relationship, and accept started using Box, which has a much friendlier web interface, that loads faster and is generally more than reliable.

But information technology's not all. The other day I discovered that Box supports WebDAV. In this support article, they explain how to set information technology up, the known issues, and so on. This is a nifty option because yous tin can use (as suggested) a third-party client to admission and manage the files and folders in your Box account, and it's much more convenient than using the web interface to download and upload files. I take used Panic's Transmit 4.ii and it works great, though I haven't been able to use the Transmit Disk feature to mount the remote volume on the desktop and employ this solution in a more Dropbox-similar way (when I endeavour, a kernel panic is triggered). You can download Transmit from here, but recollect that it's not freeware: you'll accept to purchase a licence to use it.

It gets better: y'all can use Goliath, a long-continuing, more bare-bones WebDAV client, which presents some advantages: information technology nevertheless works, it's free, and it's available for much older versions of Mac Os: the classic Mac Os version requires Mac OS 8.1 or higher. The Carbon version runs on any Mac OS 10 version greater than x.0.4. This means that you can theoretically use even older Macintoshes to connect to Box via WebDAV. (I say 'theoretically' merely because I haven't tried myself still, only I will soon. I'll utilise my iBook G3/300 running Mac OS 9.2.2 and my PowerBook 1400 running Mac OS 8.1 and will update this information at a subsequently appointment.)

Goliath'southward interface is simple and constructive:

#alttext#

You can expand folders by clicking on the triangle next to their names, or you can double-click on a folder and have it open in a new window. It'southward very easy to upload a file to a binder in your Box account: yous but elevate from the Finder and drop it on the destination folder in the Goliath window. To avoid having to type the WebDAV address of your Box 'drive' and your credentials every fourth dimension, you can relieve them by selecting File > Save connection (⌘-S).

#alttext#

Side by side time you lot need to access your Box stuff with Goliath, you merely select File > Open connection (⌘-O). I actually hope Box doesn't remove the WebDAV functionality in the future, because it'south really useful and user-friendly to take quick access to your files stored in the Box cloud even from older machines. It'due south another picayune feature that helps to put them to skilful apply.

Addenda

[Update ane – xix Jul 2017] • Jeremy Sherman reminded me that WebDAV is supported direct by Mac Bone Ten's Finder itself since Mac Os X x.0 (!). This means that you can simply select Go > Connect to Server (⌘-K) in the Finder, and enter Box's WebDAV server accost (https://dav.box.com/dav). In the following dialog, you'll be requested your Box account credentials:

Box WebDAV from Finder.png

The good affair is that this solution is fifty-fifty more than integrated with the system and works with basically any version of Mac OS X. I maintain my suggestion to use Goliath considering on older machines with G3 processors it feels a petty chip faster, and because information technology'due south even so a good option for Macs running Mac OS eight.i to 9.ii.2.

[Update 2 – twenty Jul 2017] • I performed some tests on my clamshell iBook G3/300 running Mac Os 10 10.3.ix and Mac Os 9.two.two. I tried connecting to my Box business relationship via the Finder nether Mac Os X x.3.9, but I got an error -36. Using Goliath, everything went well. Under Mac Os nine.ii.ii, I had no problems connecting to my Box account with Goliath. Navigating folders and accessing files was pleasantly fast. Now I'1000 updating this article while out and most, using my 12-inch PowerBook G4, and I tin can add this screenshot that was uploaded directly to Box from the iBook with Mac OS 9.2.two:

#alttext#

Maybe I'm non the first to have realised it, just I think this is a large deal, and a huge improvement to my workflow, much more seamless than before. Cheers to WebDAV support in Box, and thanks to a customer similar Goliath, y'all can have access to a modernistic deject service with — in this example — an 18-twelvemonth old Mac running a xvi-year sometime arrangement software. Tonight I will conduct farther testing on the PowerBook 1400c with Mac Bone 8.1. If all goes well, I'll be able to connect to Box using a Mac from 1996 running an OS version introduced in 1998.

Information technology's also a big deal because transferring files between obsolete Macs, vintage Macs, modern Macs and even iOS devices has become much faster and much more seamless than before. And I can rapidly upload to the deject any file I may have archived on vintage media (floppies or ZIP disks, for example) without having to effigy out which vintage Mac I accept to use as intermediary to move files from a machine to another.

[Update 3 – 21 Jul 2017] • I finally had the hazard to do some testing on my PowerBook 1400c (with Sonnet Crescendo G3/333 upgrade) running Mac OS 8.1. I downloaded and installed Goliath, but when I launched it I was greeted with an error, saying that the awarding couldn't be opened because the file ICAp;InternetConfigLib was missing. After a bit of research, information technology appears that the reason was that I needed a newer Internet Config Extension than the one installed in the PowerBook (v. 1.3). Using TomeViewer, I extracted a newer version (two.0.2) from the Installation CD of Mac OS 8.5, hoping it wasn't too new, and dropped it in the System Folder. I restarted the Mac, relaunched Goliath, and all was well. After filling in the relevant credentials, I was able to connect to my Box account:

#alttext#

One thing I noticed is that — presumably to maintain a proper secure connectedness — when I attempted a few copy operations at first, I oftentimes saw this dialog popping upwardly:

#alttext#

Just it went away after checking the Install certificate option and confirming a couple of times.

I'one thousand very glad this is working fifty-fifty under Mac OS 8.ane. Accessing Box via WebDAV actually gives this cloud service the widest system compatibility. I have 2 other PowerPC machines running Mac Os eight.1, the PowerBook 5300ce and the Power Macintosh 9500, that are fifty-fifty slightly older than the 1400; information technology's exciting to be able to exchange files through Box with these older Macs I nonetheless use. Of form, another thing I've noticed is that uploading and downloading isn't a particularly fast operation, peradventure due to the slower network speeds and slower CPUs of these machines. But information technology's notwithstanding useful when uploading the occasional screenshot or image, or a agglomeration of text files. It may not exist a fast process nether Mac Bone 8, but it'due south still seamless. I can write without distractions on the PowerBook 1400c, upload the document to Box, then finish it (if necessary) on the iPad or MacBook Pro.

Another matter worth noting: I don't know if this happens when mounting the Box WebDAV volume with the Finder as opposed to using Goliath, or if this happens no matter which method you use to access your Box business relationship and files, but every copy operation leaves a 'ghost' file bearing the same name of the file you copied, just preceded past '._' — you can see it when accessing Box from an iOS device:

#alttext#

It's a scrap of an annoyance, but I call up these files can be deleted without problems.

[Update 4 – 24 Jul 2017] • Jeremy Sherman again (a very big give thanks-yous to him, by the way): Suspect those ghost files are Apple tree Double files – they're the resource fork of your files. Data fork goes in SomeFile, resource fork in ._SomeFile. And I agree. Jeremy's been reminding me of things I knew but forgot over time.

[Update 5 – March 2020] • Apologies for being and then slow in updating this document. As you've certainly seen in the comments, Arthur Lee points to this Box Support article where Box states:

This document will exist updated equally more data becomes bachelor.