I have Autoplay set up to import new photos from USB drives, and this has worked for years on my old USB stick. I've started using a new one, but it refuses to upload any of the photos to my Camera Uploads folder. I still have enough space left, and it offers me the chance to add the drive to my Backup (but this doesn't help me because I want the photos renamed according to the date they were taken). Camera Uploads still works for my Android phone, so it's clearly capable of recognising photos from there.

Hey 35567ggg, let's jump right into this! Let me make sure we're on the same page here: if I understand your need correctly, it sounds like you wish to automatically upload your USB content to your Camera uploads folder, am I right? If not, feel free to correct me, and let me know more! Camera uploads is a feature that automatically uploads photos from your mobile device to Dropbox. If you wish to have your USB content there, you'd need to either upload them using our external backup feature, or to upload them first inside the root of your account, and then move them to your Camera uploads folder. Let me know more, and we'll take it from there!

Hi Megan! Yes, I'd like to automatically upload files to Camera Uploads - I used to be able to do this with another USB stick where it would rename the pictures and videos according to the date they were generated, which was really handy (plus Dropbox would remember which ones it had already processed). I already had this working, and now it isn't.

Megan wrote: Camera uploads is a feature that automatically uploads photos from your mobile device to Dropbox. It's also a feature that uploads photos from USB devices you plug in to your computer. 35567ggg wrote: I used to be able to do this with another USB stick ... I already had this working, and now it isn't. Double check your autoplay settings and make sure it's still set to Import photos and videos (Dropbox).

I've already done this, it still doesn't pick the photos up.

Hi from me too, @35567ggg! You may have tried this already, but just to double check; did you also disable and re-enable camera uploads on your desktop app, and there’s no difference? Can you send me the OS version of your computer, as well as the app version of the Dropbox app?

Camera Uploads from USB drive not working

Megan
Dropbox Staff
12 months ago
Hey 35567ggg, let's jump right into this!

Let me make sure we're on the same page here: if I understand your need correctly, it sounds like you wish to automatically upload your USB content to your Camera uploads folder, am I right?

If not, feel free to correct me, and let me know more!

Camera uploads is a feature that automatically uploads photos from your mobile device to Dropbox.

If you wish to have your USB content there, you'd need to either upload them using our external backup feature, or to upload them first inside the root of your account, and then move them to your Camera uploads folder.

Let me know more, and we'll take it from there!
- 35567ggg
  Explorer | Level 3
  12 months ago
  Hi Megan! Yes, I'd like to automatically upload files to Camera Uploads - I used to be able to do this with another USB stick where it would rename the pictures and videos according to the date they were generated, which was really handy (plus Dropbox would remember which ones it had already processed). I already had this working, and now it isn't.
  - Rich
    Super User II
    12 months ago
    Megan wrote:
    
    Camera uploads is a feature that automatically uploads photos from your mobile device to Dropbox.
    
    It's also a feature that uploads photos from USB devices you plug in to your computer.
    
    35567ggg wrote:
    
    I used to be able to do this with another USB stick ... I already had this working, and now it isn't.
    
    Double check your autoplay settings and make sure it's still set to Import photos and videos (Dropbox).
Jay
Dropbox Staff
9 months ago
Hi 35567ggg, the camera upload feature on the Dropbox desktop application will only process uploads of images and videos from camera devices specifically; not any kind of storage device connected to the device.

The OS makes various designations about different storage devices that connect to computers, so while the computer recognizes this storage device (USB stick), the computer also acknowledges this isn’t an actual camera device (like a digital camera, a phone, or an SD card which is usually inserted into a camera).

For a device like this, you would need to manually move/copy content from your USB drive into your Dropbox folder.
- 35567ggg
  Explorer | Level 3
  8 months ago
  Hi Jay - I've definitely been able to use Camera Uploads with that USB stick in the past, using images originally taken with a camera device, so it's absolutely been able to manage this beforehand
  - Megan
    Dropbox Staff
    8 months ago
    Hi 35567ggg, I'm here to second what my colleague, Jay mentioned.
    
    Also, I need to remind you that you can always backup your external USB drive using these steps instead.
    
    You can access the app's preferences, and then click on the “Backups” tab.
    
    From there, you can check your Backup, or camera uploads settings too.
    
    I hope this helps!