Using Dropbox with Plex

Guides
1

Here’s a practical walkthrough for anyone self-hosting Plex on a VPS and looking to use Dropbox for media. This setup avoids torrents and keeps your server lean and stable.

Option A: Use rclone with systemd

Step 1: rclone Config
(If not already done)

curl https://rclone.org/install.sh | sudo bash
rclone config
# Add a Dropbox remote

Step 2: Mount Dropbox via systemd

Create a mount point:

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/dropbox
sudo chown $USER:$USER /mnt/dropbox

Create the unit file:

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/rclone-dropbox.service

Paste in:

[Unit]
Description=Mount Dropbox via rclone
After=network-online.target
Wants=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/bin/rclone mount dropbox:/Media /mnt/dropbox \
  --config=/home/youruser/.config/rclone/rclone.conf \
  --allow-other \
  --dir-cache-time 72h \
  --vfs-cache-mode full \
  --vfs-cache-max-size 10G \
  --log-level INFO
ExecStop=/bin/fusermount -u /mnt/dropbox
Restart=always
User=youruser
Group=youruser

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable the service:

sudo systemctl daemon-reexec
sudo systemctl enable --now rclone-dropbox.service

Step 3: Docker Compose with Plex

version: '3.8'
services:
  plex:
    image: linuxserver/plex
    container_name: plex
    restart: unless-stopped
    network_mode: host
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - VERSION=docker
      - PLEX_CLAIM=your_plex_claim_token
    volumes:
      - ./config:/config
      - /mnt/dropbox:/media

Option B: Mount Dropbox Inside Docker

version: '3.8'
services:
  rclone:
    image: rclone/rclone:latest
    container_name: rclone
    command: mount dropbox:/Media /mnt/dropbox \
      --allow-other \
      --vfs-cache-mode full \
      --vfs-cache-max-size 10G
    cap_add:
      - SYS_ADMIN
    devices:
      - /dev/fuse
    security_opt:
      - apparmor:unconfined
    volumes:
      - ./rclone:/config/rclone
      - dropbox:/mnt/dropbox
    restart: unless-stopped

  plex:
    image: linuxserver/plex
    container_name: plex
    network_mode: host
    restart: unless-stopped
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - VERSION=docker
      - PLEX_CLAIM=your_plex_claim_token
    volumes:
      - ./config:/config
      - dropbox:/media

volumes:
  dropbox:

Mount the rclone config to ./rclone/rclone.conf. This container will serve the mounted Dropbox folder to Plex via the shared volume.

Option C: The Easy Route with ElfHosted

If setting up rclone, systemd services, and Docker Compose sounds like overkill, consider using ElfHosted instead.

ElfHosted offers a fully managed Plex hosting service with a clean, GUI-based system for linking Dropbox, Google Drive, or OneDrive — no terminal commands required.

Check out their guide here:
https://docs.elfhosted.com/how-to/use-rclone/

You get:

  • A step-by-step wizard for mounting cloud storage
  • Built-in Plex instance with regular updates
  • No need to manage hosting, SSL, or firewalls

This is the fastest way to go from “media folder” to “Plex server” without doing it all manually.

Which Option Should You Use?

  • Use systemd if you want a clean host-managed mount and prefer to separate cloud sync from container logic.
  • Use Docker for rclone if you want everything containerized and portable — but it may be trickier to troubleshoot.
  • Use ElfHosted if you just want Plex and Dropbox working without any sysadmin overhead.

Let us know how it goes or share your own tweaks.