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John H1's avatar
John H1
New member | Level 2
2 years ago

Moving Synced Data To External SSD Drive & Backing Up That Drive

To free up space on my notebook and assist in my DAW performance, I'm using a new external SSD drive to directly write new files too and I want to move my large existing files (already uploaded to Dropbox) to this new drive.

I am trying to move these large audio files from my notebook Dropbox folders which become ultimately available "online only", to the external SSD drive then want to back this drive up using Dropbox Backup.

The issue I am having is that to move the existing "online only" files they are needing to be downloaded first, then copied to the new external drive and then, once I click to back the new external SSD drive up, will be uploaded back to DBx Backup facility. This process is clogging up my notebook to the point it' going to take days and can' do too much on it.

Question: Is there a way to move these "online only" [already uploaded] files directly to the Backup folder one time only to save downloading them, copying to the new drive, then re-uploading the same files???

Maybe I am missing something very easy?? is there a better way? Can i sync two drives instead, maybe??

Many thanks in advance.

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

    Hi John H1, thanks for posting today!

     

    Currently, this wouldn't be possible via the Dropbox desktop application, since online-only files don't reside on the computer, the files need to be downloaded first into the Dropbox folder.

     

    You could try downloading the files directly from the site into the external drive, though bear in mind there is a size limit for downloads.

     

    If you have any further queries, feel free to message back.

    • John H1's avatar
      John H1
      New member | Level 2

      Thanks for the quick reply!

      It would have been great to simply move the files in DpBx directly to a backup, a two way would be even better! This would save days of down and up load of the same files.

      Another related question is; can the external SSD drive also be synced to DpBx?

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

        The Dropbox Backup feature can backup external drives to the site directly. The backup would be one-way and would only be visible from the site.

    • kevjoewalsh's avatar
      kevjoewalsh
      New member | Level 2

      I'm also trying to do something similar. Or rather, I simply want to backup my files that are on Dropbox on an external drive. But this process of downloading and then dropping them into the drive will make this a huge headache.

       

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