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Forum Discussion
Mistake! I assigned the desktop folder to the dropbox folder!
I have a win10 PC. In an attempt to include my desktop folder (50GB of files) in dropbox, I inadvertently moved the location of the contents of the Desktop to "E:/dropbox" rather than "E:/dropbox/Desktop". Now, my dropbox folder IS my Desktop folder, and vice-versa! Yikes! Now everything in my dropbox folder also appears on my desktop!
Now, when I right-click on the dropbox folder and choose "properties", I get the same "location" tab that I would normally get when right-clicking on my Desktop folder.
Even before I created this mess, my dropbox folder contains 800GB.
I need to figure out how to separate the Desktop folder (with all it's system files) from the dropbox folder. Any thoughts on a process here?
Walter,
I managed to sort things out. Here's what I did.
1. Disabled the wifi network adaptor to assure I would stay offline until finished.
2. I rebooted to safe mode.
3. My desktop/dropbox combo folder was on the E drive, so I created two temp folders on the root of the E: drive: TEMP DESKTOP CONTENTS and TEMP DROPBOX CONTENTS. To facilitate all the juggling to come, I moved everything out of dropbox to those two folders. Despite being about 800GB of stuff, moving the files happened immediately.
4. I couldn't relocate the (now empty except for system stuff like the recycle bin) desktop system folder directly to E:/dropbox/desktop - something about the parent-child folder relationship. So then I right-clicked on the folder, went to "Properties", then the "location" tab, and relocated the desktop to its default location on C:/
5. I then did the same process again to set up the desktop folder INSIDE the dropbox folder - created a new folder called "Desktop" inside dropbox, then used the dialog box to "locate" the folder inside the dropbox.
6. I then moved all the files from the two TEMP folders to their proper homes on the desktop and in dropbox.
At that point everything was where it needed to be. I rebooted and turned the wifi adaptor back on. The desktop and dropbox folders aren't literally the same folder any longer, my desktop with it's 50GB of files is continually backed up by dropbox, and the 750GB that live inside dropbox (including my documents folder) are back where they belong.
THANK YOU for your suggestions. Even though I didn't do things as you suggested, it got me to the answer. Dropbox is now busily indexing 30k files.
Steve
- Walter
Dropbox Staff
Hello Steve - welcome to the Community!
At first, allow me to clarify that your Dropbox folder is just a normal folder on your hard drive - only with syncing capabilities. Therefore, if you drag and drop files into the Dropbox folder, those files will be moved instead of copied.
It's common to assume Dropbox works like a network drive because of its many online features. However, your Dropbox folder is actually a normal folder and its contents are stored on your hard drive. The Dropbox application only watches your Dropbox folder for changes and syncs those changes online and to your other computers. One of the benefits of this way of syncing is always having access to your files, even while you are offline.
For more information on moving files versus copying them, visit our Help Center article:
https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/desktop/files-move-instead-of-copy
This means that all you'd need to do here is move your desktop's files out of your Dropbox folder and let the app sync the changes until it shows 'Up to date'.
When it comes to your concern though, could you first forward me the exact status of the desktop app on the affected computer and a screenshot of how it looks like on your end so I can advise further?
Thanks so much!
Walter,
My issue really is this: I wanted to back up everything on my desktop. I figured I would put my desktop INSIDE my dropbox folder. As the desktop is a system folder, there's a process for moving it's location. I went through that process (find "desktop" inside my user folder, right click, choose "location" and pick a new location), but instead of designating the new location as "E:/dropbox/desktop", I just chose "E:/dropbox". So now, my dropbox folder ALSO acts as the desktop system folder.
- Walter
So you moved your Dropbox Folder through the app's preferences to the wrong location Steve? Am I on the right track?
Have you tried moving it back using these steps?
https://help.dropbox.com/installs-integrations/desktop/move-dropbox-folder
Let me know what you find!
PS: The information I asked for in my initial response would also help paint a better picture of the matter at hand and how you should move forward with the current task.
