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Forum Discussion

Dimostori's avatar
Dimostori
New member | Level 2
7 months ago

Only one of my PCs shows in my computer's homepage, after latest backup update

Hi, I have two PC synced on Dropbox. I used to see both as folders in the homepage, and on my computer inside the folder Dropbox.   Then there has been I think an update on how the backup work....
Computer Backup
Desktop
Dropbox Backup
Sync
Windows
  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    7 months ago

    No supported ways with backup I'm afraid - backup is intended to just be a mirror of files not a sync. 

     

    Other ways are also unsupported so you'd need to look at third party tools. Or, do what I did and just tell Windows to "move" the directories inside of Dropbox. 


    So mine used to be \Dropbox\My Documents etc. 

    And then when I went to 'My Docs' via a side pane window it was inside of Dropbox

Dimostori's avatar
Dimostori
New member | Level 2

Thanks for your reply. I'm super sad 😫!

You mean that now, if I want to keep synchronized a folder of my computer, I have to move it into the dropbox folder, losing the position and hierarchical order it has on the PC?

Mark's avatar
Mark
Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
7 months ago

Yes - that has actually always been the case. Backup was never intended to be a syncing solution, its a backup tool. It doesnt allow you to go in and 'edit' and 'work on' things inside of it

 

Dropbox only sync's what is inside of its folder. The way it worked around that for say Desktop was to actually move the folder in to Dropbox and sync it from there with shortcuts in its original location. Dropbox only sync's certain key folders that can be set up in config. 

  • Dimostori's avatar
    Dimostori
    New member | Level 2
    7 months ago

    Thank you again. Creating shorcuts in the original location of the folders is good advise.

     

    Referring to this paragraph:

    Mark wrote:

    Dropbox only sync's certain key folders that can be set up in config. 

    Is this a different way of doing the same thing? Can I set up in config that I would like the "Documents" folder to always be in sync?

    • Mark's avatar
      Mark
      Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
      7 months ago

      No supported ways with backup I'm afraid - backup is intended to just be a mirror of files not a sync. 

       

      Other ways are also unsupported so you'd need to look at third party tools. Or, do what I did and just tell Windows to "move" the directories inside of Dropbox. 


      So mine used to be \Dropbox\My Documents etc. 

      And then when I went to 'My Docs' via a side pane window it was inside of Dropbox

      • Dimostori's avatar
        Dimostori
        New member | Level 2
        7 months ago

        Ok, right, I'll try this

        Mark wrote:

        [...] tell Windows to "move" the directories inside of Dropbox. 

         

        and if I'm not able I'll go for

        Mark wrote:
        [...] move the folder in to Dropbox and sync it from there with shortcuts in its original location

        Thank you Mark for your help!

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