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Forum Discussion

james46's avatar
james46
New member | Level 2
4 months ago

How can I download all my Dropbox data to a new computer?

I've been using Dropbox for around 10 years as a backup, in case of HDD or PC failure and now have around 1.5TB of data. 

 

My laptop broke, got a new one and now I'm unable to restore the data onto my new one. I've tried the download feature, but it's very cumbersome just doing 20gb at a time and keep on unzipping all the files.

 

Surely there must be a restore feature, I don't mind if it takes hours or days even to happen if I can leave it doing it on it's own and not having to do small batches.

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    Hey james46, welcome to our Community.

     

    If you'd like to download all your Dropbox files to a new computer, the best way to go about it would be the Dropbox desktop app.

     

    The app will download all your files to your hard drive, in a folder named "Dropbox".

     

    This is a syncing folder, so any changes you make to the files to your Dropbox account online, will sync to this folder and vice versa.

     

    You can read more about it and find a link to install it here.

     

    Let me know if you have any questions!

  • james46's avatar
    james46
    New member | Level 2

    I think I've sorted it. Selective sync seems to be doing what I wanted. I'll know if its worked in the morning.

     

    • Hannah's avatar
      Hannah
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

      Happy to hear that, James!

       

      If you come across any issues or have more questions, let me know.

       

      Have a great day!

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