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GreatLand1959's avatar
GreatLand1959
Helpful | Level 6
3 years ago

External drive backup not being offered

According the help files:


To back up an external hard drive to your Dropbox account:

Open the Dropbox desktop app on your computer.
Connect your external hard drive to your computer. A Dropbox window will appear, prompting a back up of your external hard drive.

Except I have an external drive which Dropbox doesn't seem to want to let me add to backup. I've repeatedly detached, then reattached the drive with no success. How do I force Dropbox to recognize the drive and add it to the backup function?

  • High Sierra, 5tb external. I was finally able outsmart Dropbox and force it by copying a hidden file from another external drive that Dropbox saw with no trouble. But it shouldn’t be this difficult. It should be a matter of pressing a button to add a drive, the select it from a dialogue box.
  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    Hey GreatLand1959, thanks for using Dropbox and welcome to our Community!

    Could you please clarify the OS of your device and the file-system and size of the external drive you're trying to backup?

    This will help me assist further. 
    • GreatLand1959's avatar
      GreatLand1959
      Helpful | Level 6
      High Sierra, 5tb external. I was finally able outsmart Dropbox and force it by copying a hidden file from another external drive that Dropbox saw with no trouble. But it shouldn’t be this difficult. It should be a matter of pressing a button to add a drive, the select it from a dialogue box.
      • kcristony's avatar
        kcristony
        New member | Level 2

        Can you explain how did you do it? i would like to make this work again

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