We're making changes to the Community, so you may have received some notifications - thanks for your patience and welcome back. Learn more here.

Forum Discussion

Chris N.'s avatar
Chris N.
New member | Level 2
8 years ago

ReSync after time machine restore, doesn't make any sense.

This is the scenario:

 

Dropbox is up to date, the local folder is identical to the remote folder. You perform a time machine backup, and restore to a new disk.

What happens is after restore Dropbox asks for user / pass as it was not installed and then starts resyncing all the thousands of files. What's the sense of this?? Shouldn't it just be aware that nothing has changed and live with that? 

  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    8 years ago
    You've missed a step between 5 and 6. Before it sync's it index's the files (THIS is what takes the time usually).

    At this point, no, it will know that there is a difference in the data between what is on your machine and what is in the cloud. It will then download the 'newest' versions of the updated files as needed.

    However, even if it doesnt you can still rollback the file online within 30 days - if for example something else also went wrong.... maybe for some unknown reason that file was also corrupted on your local machine before it went flying out of the window :)
  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II

    Chris N. wrote:

    Shouldn't it just be aware that nothing has changed and live with that? 


    No, it shouldn't, and you've just explained why.

     


    What happens is after restore Dropbox asks for user / pass as it was not installed and then starts resyncing all the thousands of files.

    Dropbox has a local database that it uses to keep track of all your files. When your files are indexed, this database gets populated. If you uninstall and resinstall Dropbox, or if this database otherwise becomes corrupted or deleted for whatever reason, Dropbox needs to index your files to rebuild the database.

     

    Typically, a re-index is very quick when the database is already populated, as it's only comparing your files with what it already has indexed, but when that index doesn't exist, it takes more time to rebuild it.

    • Chris N.'s avatar
      Chris N.
      New member | Level 2

      Well, the DB should be there as it was just backupped to Time Machine

      • Rich's avatar
        Rich
        Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
        Then either Time Machine didn't back it up properly, or it wasn't able to restore Dropbox in a working state. You yourself stated that Dropbox prompted you to connect to an account. If that's the case, then Dropbox didn't have all the needed files to work correctly, and initiated the re-connection. At this point, the database would be rebuilt.

        Simply put, the problem here isn't with Dropbox, but with the process being used to backup/restore it. Dropbox is working as intended.

About Delete, edit, and organize

Solve issues with deleting, editing, and organizing files and folders in your Dropbox account with support from the Dropbox Community.

Need more support

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!