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

jakercd530's avatar
jakercd530
New member | Level 2
11 months ago

I can't move my dropbox folder to external hard drive

Hi, I just bought a new computer and the hard drive is smaller than my dropbox and like to have my dropbox on my computer since it is faster to open and save files to it. I went back to best buy and asked them the best way to do this. On my other work computers I just went to sync and moved my dropbox from the C drive to the D drive but on this new IBUYPOWER desktop it only has a 500gb c drive. Best buy recommned the WD 2TB passport and when trying to move it to the passport I am getting an error that says - To sync your dropbox, move your dropbox folder to a partition with a compatible file system. Dropbox is compatible with NFTS. Does anyone know what that means and is it possible to move my drop box to the wd passort? Thank you for your help I know just enough about computers to know nothing. I appreciate any and all help. 

 

 

Desktop
Error Messages
Folders
Setting up the apps
Windows
  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    11 months ago

    Hi jakercd530, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

     

    Are you certain that the external drive is formatted in NTFS format for the Dropbox desktop application to accept it as a location?

     

    This will help me to assist further!

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    11 months ago

    Hi jakercd530, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

     

    Are you certain that the external drive is formatted in NTFS format for the Dropbox desktop application to accept it as a location?

     

    This will help me to assist further!

    • SC21's avatar
      SC21
      New member | Level 2
      10 months ago

      Hi! I'm having a similar issue. What is NTFS format? I don't want to reformat my existing hard drive because I don't want to lose the files. Should I purchase a new hard drive and does it matter which one?

      • Nancy's avatar
        Nancy
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        10 months ago

        Hey SC21! Click the Start button and then (depending on your OS) click Computer or My Computer. 

         

        In the Computer window, right click the drive you wish to check and then, click Properties from the menu. In the Disk Properties window, the information is listed next to File system.

  • jakercd530's avatar
    jakercd530
    New member | Level 2
    11 months ago

    I figured out how to format the hard drive and then it worked perfectly. 

About Apps and Installations

Have a question about a Dropbox app or installation? Reach out to the Dropbox Community and get solutions, help, and advice from members.

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!