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

LuckWinner's avatar
LuckWinner
Explorer | Level 3
7 years ago

Configure DropBox in the external hard drive

I need configure DropBox to sava my backup in the external hard drive. 
Desktop
FAQ
Security
Team admin
  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    7 years ago

    Hey there LuckWinner - how are you today?

    Why don't use selective sync which is a great way to free up space by syncing only particular folders to a specific device instead?  

    Anyhow, if you choose to go with the external HDD option, take into account that Dropbox can indeed be used with an external hard drive as long as you can ensure the drive is always connected to your computer while Dropbox (i.e the desktop app) is running. If the drive is ever disconnected from the computer while Dropbox is running there is a small chance that the Dropbox software will start deleting files before realizing that the entire drive has been removed. 

    Additionally, you should ensure that the file system of the external drive meets the file system requirements. Those can be found in the following Help Center article: 

    https://www.dropbox.com/help/desktop-web/system-requirements

    To move your Dropbox folder to an external drive use the steps in the following Help Center article: 

    https://www.dropbox.com/help/desktop-web/move-dropbox-folder 

    [The location you select is the folder the Dropbox folder will be moved to, rather than the folder your Dropbox files will be stored in.] 

    Let me know if you need anything else please!

McnCurtis's avatar
McnCurtis
New member | Level 2

Not sure where this should go or if it is possible.

I have a Dropbox folder on my local drive on a laptop (MacBook Pro). I have a Drobo connected via thunderbolt with 1.5TB of data on it. Obviously, it is not available when I'm not at my desktop.

I want to sync the Drobo to Dropbox separately from my local folder. It would be nice if I didn't have to have my computer connected to it for this to happen, but if I do, I also need suggestions on how to get 1.5TB out to the cloud in less that a week.

Ideas? Can I have multiple Dropbox folders?

Mark's avatar
Mark
Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
6 years ago

Hi McnCurtis 

Dropbox is not intended to work on external drives and doing so CAN cause massive data loss or corruption. 

I'm afraid there is no way of having multiple folders on Dropbox either.

All i can think of is slowly moving the data from your external drive to the internal one, letting it upload and then taking it off the local drive with SmartSync

  • McnCurtis's avatar
    McnCurtis
    New member | Level 2
    6 years ago

    I was afraid of that, but thanks.

About Security and Permissions

Start a discussion in the Dropbox Community forum to get help with your account security and permissions. Find support from Community 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!