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Forum Discussion
Using Rsync to Backup Dropbox Folders. Using terminal, I get a skipping file error.
I'm on a MacBook Pro, running Monterey 12.7.4 and would like to use rsync to backup some folders I have in Dropbox. I've used rsync in the past and am quite comfortable using the commands. The issue seem to be that no matter how I enter the path to the Dropbox folder I want to back up (using either Finder or the Terminal to get the path) I get errors. Using the terminal path I get a "skipping file" error where rsync is skipping the Dropbox folder I'm looking to back up.
So, I'm thinking, although the path to my Dropbox looks like "/Users/my name/Dropbox" there may be something going on behind the scenes with Dropbox where that isn't the "real" path.
Any help would be appreciated.
Hello Homer712 - glad you got it working.
The "Dropbox for macOS on File Provider" update mainly fixes some issues with opening online-only files in third-party applications, so if you haven't had problems with that I don't think there's any big advantage with switching to it.
On mac, Dropbox stores its files in ~/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox so you could try to use that path instead of /Users/my_name/Dropbox.
Let me know if it works!
Thanks for the response. That location (~/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox) is only valid if you update to "Dropbox for macOS on File Provider", which I have not done.
I worked out the rsync issues I was having (I'll blame it on age) so I'm good for now. But, seeing how that was brought up, are there any advantages to switching to the "File Provider" feature?
Hello Homer712 - glad you got it working.
The "Dropbox for macOS on File Provider" update mainly fixes some issues with opening online-only files in third-party applications, so if you haven't had problems with that I don't think there's any big advantage with switching to it.
Here is a helpful link from Dropbox's documentation: https://help.dropbox.com/installs/locate-dropbox-folder
