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Forum Discussion
Dropbox computer backup: how to undo?
I uninstalled and reinstalled Dropbox because of some issues with syncing.
In reinstalling, I thought I clicked on "no, I don't want dropbox to backup my computer" but apparently I clicked wrong be...
Apparently I fixed it with the power of intense fiddling.
Following the steps given on the website here: https://help.dropbox.com/en-en/installs-integrations/sync-uploads/computer-backup
It wouldn't let me unsync everything per se, so I had to sync everything but one folder, go ahead until it let me set up the syncing again and unsync that folder. Weird I know, but it worked in letting me unsync. Anyways.
After doing that, I headed to the Dropbox folder and deleted the "my computer files" file, which is basically linked to the C: module.
If I tried to delete the whole folder it would give me a warning showing me it was deleting loads of files, but deleting just the link went smoothly and I lost no data.
Then I was able to delete the folder "computer backup" without any warnings from my computer, and again I lost no data.
Language may vary as my system isn't in English, but sharing the solution in hopes to help someone else down the line.
Hope this helps!
Hi @daphne and thanks for answering!
I did, I checked again just now and it let me sync and unsync again, but unsyncing doesn't seem to eliminate the folder in Dropbox and when I try to move it to the trash it says it's moving 15.000 files or something so it definitely isn't empty...
When I click in, it's like it's not even IN dropbox but instead it brings me to the C: folder so it doesn't look like "Computer > Desktop > Dropbox > My PC > Documents" which is where I am directly before I click on "Computer files" which brings me to "Computer > OS (C:) > Users > Caterina > Documents"
On the website there seems to be no automatic backup settings, is this normal?
I hope this additional information helps!
Apparently I fixed it with the power of intense fiddling.
Following the steps given on the website here: https://help.dropbox.com/en-en/installs-integrations/sync-uploads/computer-backup
It wouldn't let me unsync everything per se, so I had to sync everything but one folder, go ahead until it let me set up the syncing again and unsync that folder. Weird I know, but it worked in letting me unsync. Anyways.
After doing that, I headed to the Dropbox folder and deleted the "my computer files" file, which is basically linked to the C: module.
If I tried to delete the whole folder it would give me a warning showing me it was deleting loads of files, but deleting just the link went smoothly and I lost no data.
Then I was able to delete the folder "computer backup" without any warnings from my computer, and again I lost no data.
Language may vary as my system isn't in English, but sharing the solution in hopes to help someone else down the line.
Hope this helps!
well in my case, "BACKUP" deleted everything in my desktop folder, documents, and downloads. on the web, i was able to restore about 18 jpegs, but nothing else.
lost all my PDFs, everything. and now i am screwed....
my options....null, as how ever dropbox did this, file recovery cant even find the files....Yes, exactly -- backup made it impossible to save my documents, deleted my most important folder, renders files unfindable on the desktop where I used to just save them as well as inaccessible from my other devices... It apparently deleted my filing system and added it all to two folders, one is called 'Dropbox' and the other is called "My files on dropbox" but neither of them is complete. Fortunately there is ONE reliable version of Dropbox available from the taskbar icon on my desktop. But Dropbox, accessed from Myfiles, from the desktop icon, or from my laptop, it doesn't contain the files I need even if I did upload them from the taskbar icon.
What an absolute mess.
I only did the backup because Dropbox kept pestering me to do it, also. I've spent a lot of hours on this so far. Also, Help hasn't answered even though I have a paid subscription. Supposedly my Plus version doesn't pay for great tech support. I think if it's Dropbox's fault they could afford to support us...
Dropbox used to be a very straightforward, very useful, very understandable tool. Then Microsoft bought it. The marketing folks there seem to deviously see it as a milking tool to get customers to use and upgrade to more and more features and space, but with a hook: you can't delete files in the backup without deleting them everywhere... It's designed bloat. It has taken over my computers also, loading every file of every computer onto every each one until there's no space. If you delete the backup you delete the file. Dropbox has gone from a beautiful powerful, understandable tool, to a nefarious, complicated, insidious monster. This was very short sighted of Microsoft. They couldn't keep it intuitively simple. I am copying files from Dropbox slowly and carefully, until there are no more files in Dropbox, all safely sequestered away. then purge Dropbox. If Microsoft has a more straightforward version or method, they have buried it.
