Dropbox External Drive Backup - Changing Computers

Hey there, euanburton, thanks for posting here! 

Your feedback regarding our external drive has been very valuable and I will endeavor to make sure your voice is heard.

I definitely see what you mean, and how it's affecting you while it's also not ideal. 

I will pass on your comments to the relevant departments so that we can further improve our product.

If you need anything else, let me know! 

Hi...has there been an update for this? I just bought a new computer and want to continue backing up the same hard drive to my dropbox. But it keeps on creating a new backup. There is no sense in uploading the SAME 1.5 TB of data again. 

Has the dropbox team been able to find a fix for this since it was brought up over a year ago? Walter 

Currently, we don't have any information about the future roadmap for Dropbox. 

We do appreciate the feedback on this matter and we take all comments into consideration when improving the Dropbox site and services.

It's kind of ridiculous. I have over 8TB of data in backup from an external drive.
Now that I have a new PC, I have to reupload that entire library of data again, on a 20Mbps upload!

Considering just cancelling the Backup plan to be honest. 2 years on and Dropbox doesn't seem to care.

I'm currently testing this workaround.

I changed the default Dropbox sync folder to be on the drive that I originally
wanted to use Dropbox Backup on. I'm dropping the unpolished backup system and
changing how I interact with my files.

I already had a local copy of my Dropbox folder on my external drive (D:\)

I started with changing the default sync folder to D:\Dropbox. That folder
already existed because I had manually copied the entire folder earlier. I
renamed D:\Dropbox to D:\Dropbox.1. After that, I updated my sync settings and
let Dropbox recreate the D:\Dropbox folder. Once that happened, I copied all the
files in D:\Dropbox.1 back into D:\Dropbox. I cut and paste them, overwriting
all existing files.

Once the sync finishes I'll test this on my home laptop. I imagine I'll have to
rename the Dropbox folder again, change the sync path, then cut and paste all
the files back. My hope is that the sync will continue where it left off.

I'll bookmark this page and update here. It will take 3-4 days for my sync to
finish. After that I can test it.

I just ran into this same issue today after buying a new laptop. Since the original post was 2 years ago, I was praying there was a solution by now. This is terrible. I guess I will need to find a different backup service. Really wishing this would work.

I have also run into this issue.  Seeing that this issue was posted 2 years ago, and that there still isn't a solution to transfer the management/update of a backup of an external drive with a new computer is very concerning.  I paid to upgrade my account to use the backup feature and get enough space to have everything sync/backup.  I thought I could just select the drive and the back-up would happen since I already told Dropbox to back it up.  I didn't think it mattered which computer I was on.  What is the point of being able to backup an external drive if it is tied to the original computer only?  

I am so disappointed.. I came to Dropbox for ease of use.  Please make this a priority Dropbox Backup!

I've created a new "idea" thread for this that can be voted on. Go vote now so the team can see how many people are wanting this feature. If enough people vote, it could be considered for a the product roadmap.

https://www.dropboxforum.com/idea/101002013/relinkclaim-external-drive-or-any-backup-from-a-different-new-computer/823999