You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.

Forum Discussion

lament's avatar
lament
Explorer | Level 3
12 months ago

Proper procedure for re-linking (adopting) backed up external drive on a new computer?

Hi all,

 

I'm only backing up an external hard drive with Dropbox Backup. I wiped and reinstalled my Mac (Sonoma 14.2.1) and reinstalled Dropbox.

 

Dropbox has created a new backup of the external drive and has called it External Drive (1). I see my proper backup (External Drive) files on the web. I just want to not have to upload 3.5TB of data and have Dropbox recognize that it's the same drive I've been previously backing up. The name of the external drive has not changed.

 

There's currently a black x on the Dropbox icon. When I click, it says my Dropbox is full and that I'm using 3.5TGB of my 45GB of personal Dropbox space. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Thanks for any help!

Dropbox Backup
  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    12 months ago

    Hi lament, since you wiped and reinstalled the OS, this is considered a different device, so any backups made on the 'old' device will no longer work.

     

    You'll need to backup the external drive from scratch, and delete the old backup, since you're currently out of quota, to free up space. Currently, it isn't possible to merge two backups together in the way you're requesting.

  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    12 months ago

    Hi there Jason E.15 - sorry to hear you're having issues with this.

     

    Could you please send me a screenshot of the app's exact status as shown in your menu bar at the moment?

     

    Also, do you see one or two backups in your backups page? 

     

    Let us know more and we'll take it from there, Jason. 

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

        Hi lament, since you wiped and reinstalled the OS, this is considered a different device, so any backups made on the 'old' device will no longer work.

         

        You'll need to backup the external drive from scratch, and delete the old backup, since you're currently out of quota, to free up space. Currently, it isn't possible to merge two backups together in the way you're requesting.

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!