Dropbox Backup does not show connected external drive

[JJM3]

I am trying to use Dropbox Backup with an external drive. The external drive is connected to my computer, but Dropbox Backup does not show it. Please advise. Thank you!

[Hannah]

Hey @JJM3, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

Do you mean that you're connecting the drive, but no connection dialog is popping up?

If so, what is your external drive's size and usage?

And what is the current status of the Dropbox application?

You can hover over the Dropbox icon in your system tray/menu bar for this info.

Let me know and we'll go from there.

[JJM3]

Thanks for your reply Hannah. Basically I have an external drive connected to my Mac. It shows up in the finder. It is used for Time Machine backups. I would like to have Dropbox Backup this drive. However, It does the drive does not show up at all when I open Dropbox Backup. 

[Jay]

Hi @JJM3, if it is being used for Time Machine backups, then this could be the reason that it isn't working with Dropbox Backup, since those are two separate, and yet conflicting, services.

You could try manually activating it in the Dropbox desktop application preferences, however, bear in mind that there could be unexpected behavior when using both services at the same time on that external drive.

[JJM3]

Thank you. 

[JJM3]

@Jay thank you.

Do you know if there is a way to back up the external drive that time machine uses? So I could have a back up of the time machine back ups (preferably with dropbox if possible). Thanks again.