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

imagemakerpr's avatar
imagemakerpr
New member | Level 2
7 years ago

Can Dropbox be used as a backup with Time Machine?

Can dropbox be used for backup with time machine. How do I set it up?
FAQ
Sync
  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    7 years ago
    Its STRONGLY recommended that you dont - there are lots of threads on here about where it doesnt play well.

    Its also worth remembering, and pointing out, that Dropbox isnt a back up tool. Its a syncing one and so you really shouldnt rely upon it as a back up one.
Mark's avatar
Mark
Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
Its STRONGLY recommended that you dont - there are lots of threads on here about where it doesnt play well.

Its also worth remembering, and pointing out, that Dropbox isnt a back up tool. Its a syncing one and so you really shouldnt rely upon it as a back up one.
aknyc's avatar
aknyc
Helpful | Level 6
3 years ago

So as you say, dropbox is not a substitute for backing up.  And you also say, do not use Time Machine with Dropbox.  So, then, is one stuck without a backup solution if one uses Mac OS?

  • ngb's avatar
    ngb
    Explorer | Level 4
    3 years ago
    Until a solution is found. Dropbox is an excellent backup system. Turn off time machine and use Dropbox for backups. That is what I do. It’s saved me plenty of times.

    macOS will also backup to iCloud. So time machine isn’t really needed anyway. But Dropbox will provide rollback functionality as well.
    • aknyc's avatar
      aknyc
      Helpful | Level 6
      3 years ago

      I don't like being solely reliant on the cloud, whether dropbox or icloud drive.  So TM is a must (i backup to multiple physical drives - 3 at last count!)

       

      So looks like I will have no choice but to ditch DropBox, unless Dropbox confirms that OSX Monterey Time Machine and Dropbox are "compatible".

      • hologroove's avatar
        hologroove
        Explorer | Level 3
        12 months ago

        Are there any updates on this? Could this work? (i.e. saving the Dropbox folder to a Time Machine backup in macOS Monterey)

        I understad that restoring from that backup to a machine that has Dropbox running could be problematic, so I can live with a limitation that if I want to restore from the Dropbox folder in Time Machine backup then I have to do it while Dropbox is not running and syncing on that machine.

        Could this work if I exlcude these from the Time Machine backup and never attempt restoreing the whole Dropbox folder but only individual files/folders?
        ~/.dropbox/
        ~/.dropbox_bi
        ~/Dropbox/.dropbox
        ~/Dropbox/.dropbox.cache

About Create, upload, and share

Find help to solve issues with creating, uploading, and sharing files and folders in Dropbox. Get support and advice 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!