Dropbox public links going away

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webfork
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Dropbox public links going away

#1 Post by webfork »

So as has been reported a few places now, DropBox is disabling their public folder system. This is important because a LOT of data here on the site created by myself and others is being hosted by Dropbox.

Please post to this thread if you see a group of links that are on Dropbox that need to get backed up.

I'm going to try to handle this in the weeks ahead but I may not have enough time so any help is welcome.

---

While I don't totally blame them as I've been getting free bandwidth for years now, it would have been nice to give me another option. Unfortunately it looks like even the "Pro" and "Business" accounts are getting that shut off so I'm not sure what the point of this was just to lose customers and upset users. It already had bandwidth limits and it's not as if Dropbox couldn't make free account into forwarding links that made users watch an ad before downloading something.

Slashdot has some info on the blow-back from this decision.

This is yet another argument for Baas' idea a few years ago to create a site-wide mirror in Torrent form (can't find the link). I can't currently tackle this but at some point it may turn out the only alternative. Why it's hard to find effective, persistent storage is a mystery.

donald
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Re: Dropbox public links going away

#2 Post by donald »

RE:dropbox data
Could Andrew Lee, or any super users/ moderators perform a search for all links on the site?
...
If so links to DropBox content might be found by searching for DropBox links or filtering out other links.

Is this possible?

With a complete list it could be divided and volunteers could back it up & make it available in chunks (their section of the list)

Torrents could be a useful way to distribute or perhaps some other method.

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I am Baas
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Re: Dropbox public links going away

#3 Post by I am Baas »

site:portablefreeware.com + "dropbox.com"

https://encrypted.google.com/#q=site:po ... box.com%22

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SYSTEM
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Re: Dropbox public links going away

#4 Post by SYSTEM »

Seven entries have Dropbox download links. I found them with the database dump and LibreOffice Calc's filtering feature.
Entries with Dropbox DL links
Entries with Dropbox DL links
My YouTube channel | Release date of my 13th playlist: August 24, 2020

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I am Baas
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Re: Dropbox public links going away

#5 Post by I am Baas »

SYSTEM wrote:Seven entries have Dropbox download links. I found them with the database dump and LibreOffice Calc's filtering feature.
Nice. Can you perform a similar search for forum posts?

billon
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Re: Dropbox public links going away

#6 Post by billon »

Changed Detect It Easy, SnapTimer, Taskbar Shuffle (only 32-bit version, there is no 64-bit version on Softpedia), BTConvert and BitcoinPortable DL links
Last edited by billon on Tue Dec 27, 2016 6:36 am, edited 4 times in total.

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SYSTEM
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Re: Dropbox public links going away

#7 Post by SYSTEM »

I am Baas wrote:
SYSTEM wrote:Seven entries have Dropbox download links. I found them with the database dump and LibreOffice Calc's filtering feature.
Nice. Can you perform a similar search for forum posts?
No, because only Andrew can dump the forum database. (It can't be publicly readable because it contains private messages.)
My YouTube channel | Release date of my 13th playlist: August 24, 2020

Specular
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Re: Dropbox public links going away

#8 Post by Specular »

This only affects the Public folder for users who previously had it, based on that link. Direct shared links from other folders are unaffected (and come March the Public folder will be converted for free users into a private one anyway).

So if I'm understanding it correctly all one would need to do is update the links directly to the files if they had any that needed to be shared with others. This is what I currently do for all my links (mine aren't on PF).

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Andrew Lee
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Re: Dropbox public links going away

#9 Post by Andrew Lee »

Here's a dump of all the posts with "dropbox.com" in them (with some irrelevant posts removed):

https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 198#p13198
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 006#p17006
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 008#p17008
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 609#p18609
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 077#p21077
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 551#p22551
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 394#p25394
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 103#p27103
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 510#p30510
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 140#p31140
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 168#p31168
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 489#p31489
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 412#p31412
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 807#p31807
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 854#p31854
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 874#p31874
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 858#p34858
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 599#p38599
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 483#p38483
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 561#p39561
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 160#p36160
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 930#p40930
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 469#p42469
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 172#p47172
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 199#p51199
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 703#p51703
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 698#p51698
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 686#p51686
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 608#p65608
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 656#p69656
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 009#p63009
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 969#p62969
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 961#p62961
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 962#p62962
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 541#p60541
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 396#p63396
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 138#p64138
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 281#p64281
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 968#p60968
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 677#p73677
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 948#p73948
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 403#p74403
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 789#p77789
https://www.portablefreeware.com/forums ... 829#p78829

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webfork
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Re: Dropbox public links going away

#10 Post by webfork »

This one took me some time to get to as it's tedious.
Specular wrote:... all one would need to do is update the links directly to the files if they had any that needed to be shared with others. This is what I currently do for all my links (mine aren't on PF).
This actually came up from DropBox before. I had a lot of files shared here on the site and I'm sure if you go back through my posts you'll still see a few dead dropbox links. I suspect they'll do this again in the future to discourage public file sharing.
billon wrote:Changed Detect It Easy, SnapTimer, Taskbar Shuffle (only 32-bit version, there is no 64-bit version on Softpedia), BTConvert and BitcoinPortable DL links
Thanks for that. I just updated Monoff4 and Excel Cracker. I couldn't find the last version 2.2 but I'll keep looking.

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