On January 26 th , we released a new version of OneDrive sync (22.002) on macOS 12.1+ with an updated Files On-Demand experience. Prior to this release, OneDrive used a kernel extension for Files On-...
Updated Mar 01, 2022
Version 4.0
Blog Post
forensicny I agree the root cause of this is Apple forcing cloud file providers to use their AFP framework and forcing that to cache files in your home folder. That causes all sorts of problems for folks who bought computers with non-upgradeable internal drives, although selling computers with barely adequate system drives is a problem across the industry—modern laptops with 130GB or even 250GB system drives should be banned, if only by customers refusing to buy them.
There is, however, a workaround for Apple. If you look at my discussion with Liz_Atems_elisatems above, she describes a process to move your home folder to an external drive, which then moves all cloud drive caches to the external drive. 500GB and 1TB external drives are quite affordable now, and either would easily accommodate all your Dropbox files, and probably all your OneDrive files as well—just be sure you get a fast enough enclosure, preferably with at least USB3 or possibly a Thunderbolt interface. If you kept both external drives connected at least temporarily, you could transfer files locally. Otherwise, you could simply move your home folder to the external drive, then download all your Dropbox files from the cloud. It would take a little while, but you could transfer that much overnight with a basic broadband Internet connection.
I agree file corruption and access issues around the change in cache location are a pain, but based on my experience, I think many of those are due to slow Internet connections causing timeouts and the like. I've encountered some weirdness when uploading or downloading large amounts of data at one timeout generally I've been able to correct the problems without permanent data loss.
My bigger concern is that AFP seems to break local backups and features like QuickLook and Spotlight, although Carbonite claims it can request file downloads from AFP to backup files to their cloud. I haven't yet confirmed if that works. I mostly want to be able to access my files in case of a cloud service or ISP outage, both which are very possible.
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