new Dropbox limitations and possible solutions

[fox]

I've been using Dropbox for years to keep my currently used and most regularly used files automatically synced and readily accessible on my computers, tablets and phone. Dropbox is great for this because it has a sync client for Linux, MacOS, Windows, iOS and Android. And it was free for 2GB storage, which is all I need for the use I make of it. To get more paid subscriptions, Dropbox recently restricted its use to only three devices, and while they grandfathered in devices that were already on their system, you have to go to their lowest paid subscription ($13/mo) to use the synchronization feature with any new "devices". But if you're like me and upgrade distros and move them around, those changes require adding another "device", and you have to have less than three to do so. I would have paid $2 or $3 monthly for the unlimited device feature, but certainly not over $100 annually.

I stewed over this for days before coming to my present solution, which is to stop using Dropbox as my sync client.  Instead, I made a new folder in Google Drive (which also works on all devices and is free up to 15GB) called "Drop Zone". Now I use Drop Zone instead of Dropbox for the current and regularly used files. Maybe you're in the same boat? Maybe you have a better solution?

[Jason]

If you don't want Google knowing all your crap, I think SpiderOak is better. I've already said a lot on it so you can use the search function to find those topics and comments. If you're going to pay $13/month then SpiderOak is definitely a better deal. You get 2 TB backup for that and unlimited devices. But you can get $6/month for 150 GB of storage. But if you want free, you're out of luck to get anywhere near that amount of storage.

If you do use encryption for your files before you put them Google's servers or Dropbox's be like ssfc and use VeraCrypt. You can create a 'drive' in the sync folder that appears as just a single file and only opens up to show all the files when you 'mount' it. It's a good alternative.

You can also put your password file in it if you use a desktop-only password manager like LastPass so you can access them from anywhere.

[ssfc72]

As I mentioned in another Forum post, I created a second Dropbox account, to get around the 3 device restriction the Dropbox recently implemented.
The only file I want to sync across all my devices is my KeePassX password file, which is encrypted by KeePass, so it is not readable without the password.
As Mike mentioned, I do have to manually copy the KeePassX file, from the one Dropbox account to the other Dropbox account but that is no problem at all. :-)

I stewed over this for days before coming to my present solution, which is to stop using Dropbox as my sync client.  Instead, I made a new folder in Google Drive (which also works on all devices and is free up to 15GB) called "Drop Zone". Now I use Drop Zone instead of Dropbox for the current and regularly used files. Maybe you're in the same boat? Maybe you have a better solution?