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Forum Discussion
Can't Backup an external drive
Dropbox Sync Errors I have been attempting to sync an external disk for weeks now, with no success. Uninstalled, reinstalled (Dropbox), tried on a Mac, tried on Windows 10, and ultimately, got the O...
Hannah
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHey @guruuno, Walter is asking you some basic questions, so we can gather some info, in order to troubleshoot the issue accordingly.
Keep in mind that you can back up the following types of external hard drives to Dropbox Backup:
- On Windows: NTFS, exFAT, FAT32
- On Mac: HFS+, APFS, exFAT, FAT32
Is this the case for your external drive?
Also, does restarting your computer help at all?
NTFS/Windows 10, Rebooted 200 times, files start to sync, don't want files stored locally, can't "drag" or"upload" via web interface without filling local hard disk, would much like to just upload to Dropbox and access only on cloud and only have "symbolic links" on PC. Latest, greatest Dropbox version (206.4.6506), keep getting stuck on a folder on the external disk called 'Software', Dropbox says 'Can't update "Software" file in use', yet there is nothing "in use" other than the folder living on the drive. "dbxignore' keeps showing over and over and over in the pop-up bubble from the taskbar over Dropbox when I place the mouse pointer over Dropbox to see it's non-progress/activity, and the only reference to a file or 2 or 3 stating they are syncing/uploading, but never do. I successfully used the Web interface and uploaded individual files from the external drive root, but interface does not allow "bulk"(more than 1 folder) to manually upload....so upon trying that for several hours and days, I had to stop because the internal disk of the PC became close to capacity with the Dropbox files, yet I only want them on the cloud, and reference links in the Dropbox folder. It should not have to be so difficult, hard, and TIME CONSUMING. I'd like to put the 2Tb+ of files on the external hard disk into Dropbox....simple request, how achieved?
- Hannah
Hey @guruuno, I appreciate the info you gave me.
However, just to clarify, there are two ways of adding files from an external drive to Dropbox.
You can either manually copy them into your Dropbox folder, to actually sync them to your account, which means that the files will also take up hard drive space in order to sync.
Or you can choose to use our backup feature, to back up the external drive.
With backup, the files don't get moved to your internal hard drive, they just need time to get backed up and then they're only accessible from your backups page.
I'm assuming that you'd prefer the second way, so can you just confirm that you've used these steps to back up the drive? And are you having issues with this process?
Regarding the .dbxignore files, some external drives need to create log files to function.
Dropbox ignores these to save space in your backup. To do so, it creates placeholder .dbxignore files that take up less storage space.
