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
Backing up and syncing from external HD to the Dropbox folder issues
Hello,
I am getting mixed information from the Dropbox helpdesk and could use some help.
I’m a photographer. I have 6.5Tb of photos stored on my External Drobo hard drive. I work from that hardd...
Danman wrote:
Ok, so are you saying that I could sync my files from my external drive to dropbox and use smart sync to not let them be backed up on my computer. But they will remain on my external drive?
No. Unless you move the Dropbox folder to your external drive, which isn't suggested, there's no way to sync files with your external drive.
What I was saying is that if the Dropbox folder is on your laptop, and you use Selective Sync on a folder, it will be removed from the Dropbox folder and not your external drive. Dropbox can only interact with the Dropbox folder.
In this scenario with Dropbox on your laptop and your files on the external drive, any folders you want stored on Dropbox would need to be MANUALLY copied to the Dropbox folder, allowed to sync completely, and then you could remove them from the Dropbox folder using Selective Sync so they only remain online. Again, this is a MANUAL process where you will need to be vigilant about copying files to and from Dropbox as needed so everything is up to date.
Again, Dropbox will not do what you want it to do with your configuration. It's simply not designed for it. No cloud storage service that I know of will work the way you want it to.
Hi, Daniel
Thanks for asking this question, as I have the exact situation. No, I can't imagine you're the only one!
What did you decide to do to get a 2nd backup of your external hard drive? I also use Lightroom, and my external hard drive is primary storage. But I need a backup.
Cheers
Kathy
Hi Kathy,
Thanks for reaching out. It’s pretty frustrating isn’t it?
In the end I decided not to use Dropbox. It’s too complicated and it looks like too many things could go wrong. I mean, what we are asking is basically very simple but no one seems to be making something simple, it seems.
I do have a back up at home because I have two Drobos, one for back up. But I want to back up my files off the premises in case of theft or fire and be able to reach my files when working from somewhere else.
So I decided to leave a back up of everything at my brother’s house, except the latest things I’m working on. I just bring an HD every few months…
And I got the 2Tb Apple storage plan and just back up the stuff from the two last years there. And also the stuff that I am working on. I don’t let the computer back things up automatically there because then it gets weird too.
Unfortunately I have to back it all up by hand and it’s very time consuming but I don’t think there is a beter solution at the moment. I decided to do this until I find something that works.
I gave up on the idea to find something that will back up automatically. I would be fine with a place that I can store all the 6.5 Tb and reach it from everywhere in the world.
So I am waiting for something better to come along but at least my files are safe now.
I hope this helps a bit…. ;-)
Let me know what you will do. I’m always interesting in hearing other people’s views and ideas!
Kind Regards, Daniel
Do you have a Mac? I don't remember to do as often as I should, but backing up the external hard drive to time machine is something I do. Wonder if that may work for you? I have also used backblaze in the past; takes days and days to back up everything, but once it does, then updating while your hard drive is plugged in shouldn't take too long. For the rest of your computer, it just runs all the time in the background.
Thanks for bringing this up. I have tons of space on dropbox, but apparently will need another option :(.
Kathy
Hi Kathy,
I do use a Mac.
I don’t understand: You back up your external drive to Time Machine? You mean to iCloud? I use Time Machine to an external but I thought it only backed up to an external drive. And only my computer. But anyway, I need 6.5 Tb so that wouldn’t work in iCloud.
I did try Backblaze. It was extremely slow but there were a few issues. Don’t remember them exactly but I think you can’t work from Backblaze? And if you don’t access it for a month, like being on holiday or a trip for a month, then your files are deleted? There is a way around it but it just seemed too complicated to me.
Anyway, there were reasons for me to stop using it.
Well, the search continues!
Good luck! If I find something better I will share it here!
Daniel
I have the same problem; also a photographer, athough only semi-professional, so my storage need is smaller - around 2TB. I have just come across Boxifier which looks like it will address this problem of backing up data from ext HDs onto Dropbox, but is not yet available for Macs (they say will be soon). Don't quite understand what Kathy said about 'backing up an ext HD 'to' Time Machine; the point of Time Machine is that it backs up TO an ext HD - it is not for offline storage., so far as I am aware. She mentioned Backblaze - but seems not to use it? Why?
