Box Drive and M1 Apple Silicon chip computers issues Box renaming files conflict causes crashes, file destruction, system failure

I have put up this reply that I sent to Box Product Support about an escalating problem with Box Drive.  I am doing so as a public service to other Apple users. So other people to know it's not something they've done or that it's something they can ignore because if they're using Box Drive with an M1 chip computer - it will only get worse (computer or apps acting up), corrupting files then folders then the system hierarchy until it will be "renaming" every second until they have hundreds of thousands of files that are identical except for the name. Things start to get weird, apps crash, and eventually you run out of space and crash and get disconnected from the Cloud then Box. This is not a joke or whatever... I was informed that Box was notified by Apple to improve its software so that it works with the M1 chip, and it has not.

 

 My reply to Box Product Support (which will explain what happens and how you fix it):

 (Sections deleted for 5000-character limit) 

 

It's hard to find on your site what you publish as “known issues” with the M1 chip but what you disclose is the tip of the iceberg. The nightmare is algorithmic cascading data corruption. It surprised the techs because they've never seen anything like it. As Box Drive is seeing a “conflict” which does not exist and renaming a file by inserting my Box username (within a parenthesis). It doesn’t just duplicate files, it does that until you run out of memory then you run out of space on a 4-terabyte storage on iCloud, so you get shut out of the Cloud.  Then it crashes Mail.  Adobe crashes then so does Zoom. Box Drive’s renaming algorithm, goes and goes until Box runs out of space as it sees a “conflict” that does not exist but creates a nightmare.  So, your computer is going haywire and starts not to function... Mail, it keeps crashing and shutting down... Same with Adobe (corruption and malfunctioning then crashes) then Zoom notifies you don't have enough space to function, and you cannot figure out what is going wrong and what has happened to your brand-new apple M1 computer.

 

You get a notification from your computer saying you need to free up space on your home folder. You cannot clean duplicates as Box Drive is generating the duplicates faster than you can erase them as its algorithm is renaming all your files so Box reads them as different files. 

 

It seems it has been happening overtime, about in April just weeks after I got my new M1 Apple computer. So, forget about restoring to a backup. As it just built and built and built and there was no detection and there was no notification that these files were not being renamed but a file added. A few days ago, I started seeing a notification that Box was renaming a file as it had a conflict. Innocently. I trusted it… my mistake because it started to do it faster and faster and faster and faster. Until it couldn't ding fast enough so I silenced the dinging thinking what's going on, but I will finish my call. Then I saw that there were hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of files. Later there were 86,000 files “renamed” in one section of the file system alone that had been duplicated but with the new name added. Oh, I checked later, the files were identical in size, and content except the renaming algorithm snafu.

 

What's also terrible is you can back up your hard drives thinking you are okay, but it will leave you with a mess that you are manually going to have to fix. It's known within the upper level of the tech community to not use Box Drive with Apple M1. It should be known hence my post.

 

Because on their website Box Drive has known issue with Monterey and if you use Apple searchlight son any Apple computer using Monterey, it does not read the file name. So you are not able to read the files (even downloaded) correctly in the Box folder which is on an Apple computer. So I bought a Cloud duplication app, and using a browser link, it found the files with the (user ID) but that doesn’t stop Box or fix it. We are required to manually clean (folder by folder, sub-folder by sub-folder, then file by file) all that was unknowingly corrupted over time on the Cloud, then computer by computer as some computer have some files and others don't. Then repair the damaged system so we can reload “clean” to a new Cloud service platform for the next generation computers using M1 chips in lieu of Intel.  My question - why doesn't Apple put up list of software and Cloud servers that works with the M1 chip? Then update it.

MacBook Pro Apple Silicon

Posted on Jul 14, 2022 09:15 AM

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Jul 14, 2022 09:48 AM in response to quangtam2159

My question - why doesn't Apple put up list of software and Cloud servers that works with the M1 chip? Then update it.


The answer is that Apple does not engage in the practice of endorsing non-Apple products, for the simple reason that they have no control over what those other companies do.


I don't know what "Box Drive" is but from the context of your question I surmise it is either an on- or offsite file storage and/or backup service, for which Apple offers iCloud and Time Machine:


Introduction to iCloud - Apple Support

Back up your files with Time Machine on Mac - Apple Support

Jul 18, 2022 03:38 AM in response to John Galt

Thank you for your reply.  I spoke with senior techs at Apple and Box (a Cloud server along with Dropbox, Google Drive, and iCloud which are well known) who are, according to Apple support, Apple's software partners. It was refreshing to speak with Apple senior level support as they assured me that Apple engineers are working diligently with their "software partners" that "Apple has great relationships with” to fix the problems with the M1 chip and the third-party software. It was nice that they acknowledged that there was a problem as opposed to the often dismissive (it’s third-party software and we don't care) attitude. Adobe, which is also a well-known product, despite its modifications to its software, is still not functioning well with M1. Amusingly, initially the M1 had a problem with Calendar and searching for events (couldn't find them) but that was fixed with an update.


So, thank you for your email but I do have an iCloud account with 4 TB. I was told by my tech consultants that there are limitations on iCloud that the third-party software companies offer as standard, that iCloud does not. 


I posted online to help others, so Apple M1 users who also use Box don't think it's their problem, but it's well known within the tech community that there are problems with Box and the Apple M1 chip but it I just not known by the public.  My suggestion was to put up on the Apple site a list of software that are functioning well with the M1 chip and that are not, much like the many third-party sites out there but an official list from Apple. It would be helpful, and allow loyal Apple customers to know and not be forced to go site to site or rely on third party tech sites for answers about Apple's M1 chip . As Apple enjoys "good relationships with their third-party software companies" that they "view as partners" it's always nice to continue a good relationship with those who support Apple- the Apple customer.


It would be helpful as a lot less Apple users would not wonder what is going on suddenly with one software or another after, for example, spending money on the new M1 MacBook Pro laptop and suddenly software that worked fine and is used universally, like Adobe is suddenly not functioning as usual. However, your answer was not appropriate as it was not a suggestion of an endorsement but customer care or caring about the customer... So I still hope a Senior Apple tech might see this, and not need to read my list of obvious merits and choose to be of help to others, too. Hence, taking the time to send this reply hoping intelligence with compassion might prevail if a tech sees this suggestion. In the meantime, someone searching for answers about Box and Apple M1 chip will at least see my initial post and know it is not fixable with Box and the only known remedy is a lot of work (manual clean-up of endless self-duplicating files) and migrating to another Cloud server.


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Box Drive and M1 Apple Silicon chip computers issues Box renaming files conflict causes crashes, file destruction, system failure

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