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Forum Discussion
Backup folder name change
Hello! I have 2 macs, one personal and one for work. Both had backup enabled and when I went online, I saw both computers' backup directories. The directories were both in the format of "My Mac (comp...
I created a doc explaining how this could be done -- with some willingness to use the terminal and be responsible for your changes
https://brianlamb.notion.site/Methods-for-Custom-Backup-Folder-Name-f0426632c9044ab5bb3c52a0ec74ca50
Although I appreciate the workaround to be able to modify the symbolic links through Terminal commands...
- We shouldn't have to do this!
- There are always risks with Terminal commands
- As these are unsupported commands they can always be broken by any Dropbox upgrades
This problem has been around for a long time and Dropbox needs to reprioritise the problem in their software update planning
- To be clear
I am a Dropbox user just like yourself, I only offer this as an effective solution.
As to whether Dropbox breaks it or not…
Well I would use the second method I propose and then you just have symlinks in your home directory to folders that are being synced like any other folder in Dropbox
It avoids any of the “Backup” terminology and setup… you have just provided yourself with a handy link for yourself.
I’ll admit it requires willingness to use the terminal and really shouldn’t be necessary for such a simple concept.
We’re you able to see the link contents from my post? With the instructions near the end…..
```bash
[my prompt is a '→' and the current directory prepends the prompt sign]
~ → IFS="::"
[Set a custom separator character so spaces can be used in directory names]
~ → COMPUTER_BACKUP_DIR="My Mac (MacBook Pro 13)"
~ → mkdir ~/Dropbox/$COMPUTER_BACKUP_DIR/Desktop
~ → cp -r ./Desktop/. ~/Dropbox/$COMPUTER_BACKUP_DIR/Desktop
OR (I prefer rsync)
~ → rsync -a ./Desktop/. ~/Dropbox/$COMPUTER_BACKUP_DIR/Desktop
``` After over a year since my original post, it's good to see that there is more interest in this issue. In the past year I ended up replacing a Mac with another, which is now labeled "Mac (9)" as my backup directory, so this is truly annoying as heck. Hopefully this will be considered.
Question for Dropbox product people - is this even on the roadmap? If so, estimate of when it'll be addressed?
Thanks!
