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Forum Discussion
Raffa_hello
4 years agoExplorer | Level 4
DB doesn't see the external hard drive on Mac
Hallo everybody.
I'd like to try the new "Back up an external hard drive to Dropbox" feature, which I understand was added in August 2021, because I would like to synchronize on DB some files that...
rmundell
Helpful | Level 6
I have spent time with Dropbox support, and apparently if you have updated to Monterey you can no longer specify an external drive
paultg
3 years agoExplorer | Level 4
Ok that makes sense !! Thanks for the response.
- redorbit2 years agoNew member | Level 2
After some research and try and error, I found out that if you format the drive as APFS Encrypted Dropbox can't see it. I reformatted the drive as APFS and Dropbox was able to see it and backup.
Not ideal, as I like my external drives encrypted being movable devices.
I'm on MacOS Monterey
- paultg2 years agoExplorer | Level 4Thanks I thought as much as like you I just have them encrypted for safety purposes!
- stefanb2 years agoExplorer | Level 3
Hi there, does anyone solved this problem? It seems it´s one which still exists quite a long time. I run Mac Ventura and connected a Sandisk Extreme 4TB formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). In the first step dropbox recognized the drive, showed me a dialog and I set up the backup. Of some reason I had to delete the backup, cause in the web it told me everything is synched and in the app is said the drive is not connected, although it was. So I decided to delete the hole backup and start from scratch. Now I have NO possibility to make dropbox recognizing my drive again. And there is NO way to add it manually.
@Dropbox: Why is there no simple Button "Add" for external drives?
I found a hidden file in the SSD calles something like "ignore db". I thought this is the solution! I deleted it but nothing happend.
I already had a chat with the support and wait for answer from the technical team. But now I found all this unsolved postings about this issue. Seems still not be solved from there side.
I really want to make this work, otherwise it makes no sense for me continuing with Dropbox. But in general I was really happy with the service. The backup function worked great with my old external.
PLEASE Dropbox make this work for us. - stefanb2 years agoExplorer | Level 3
SOLUTION
Got this from the Dropbox tec support and it works:
1. Sign in to dropbox.com.
2. Click your avatar (profile picture or initials).
3. Click Settings.
4. Click the Security tab.
5. Your devices are listed under Devices.
6. Click the trash can icon next to the devices you'd like to sign out of remotely.
7. Click Unlink.
8. The desktop app will then prompt you to re-enter your account information.
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