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Forum Discussion
Cannot select drive letter D: to reuse existing D:\Dropbox folder
I have reinstalled Windows 10 on C: so the Dropbox client has to be reinstalled as well. The Dropbox folder D:\Dropbox was not affected by the reinstall and several GB are still perfectly in place. To avoid re-downloading all the content I found
"During the installation there's an Advanced Options link. if you click that you can specify the location for your Dropbox folder. Be sure to select the folder ABOVE Dropbox, or you'll end up creating a Dropbox within your Dropbox. If it tells you that the location already contains a Dropbox folder, then follow these steps."
To select the folder ABOVE the current Dropbox folder I would have to select drive letter D:. But the UI does not allow to make that selection. It always wants a folder after the drive letter. Is there a trick to select a drive letter?
If the drive letter cannot be selected how else can I link the app the the existing Dropbox folder without downloading/indexing all files again?
- Hannah
Dropbox Staff
Hey asteidle, thanks for joining our Community.
Can you please try the steps below, to see if they help?
1. Uninstall the Dropbox application
2. Rename your existing Dropbox folder to "Dropbox (old)" or similar.
3. Reinstall Dropbox and select the location that you want for the Dropbox folder, during the installation process.
4. When the installation is finished, Dropbox will immediately start to sync, so pause syncing or exit Dropbox.
5. Move only the contents of "Dropbox (old)" into the newly created Dropbox folder.6. When the move is complete, and not before, resume syncing or re-launch Dropbox.
Keep me posted!
@Hannah: This worked so-so. It converted all files into "Online Only" (cloud in grey circle). 😕
I now remember having to do a dodgy procedure as you describe it last time. Looks to me like the Dropbox client software focuses on making it easy for new clients but existing clients have to either accept outrageous downloads or do some hack for a very straightforward process :(. If installing the client over a huge existing Dropbox folder structure is either hacky or inefficient I should probably watch how much I put in my Dropbox...
