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Forum Discussion
Mac: Dropbox Backup - "Error - can't backup this device"
I have an external drive connected to my Mac (iMac 2020. Big Sur 11.7.9. Dropbox 183.4.7058).
The drive shows up on the desktop and there're no issues with it. Approx 2 weeks ago it stopped syncing via Dropbox.
When I go to Backups - status shows "error....can't backup device. Unplug and try again"
I've tried ejecting and reconnecting drive & reinstalling Dropbox. Nothing works in terms of getting Backups to recognise that it's connected.
When I click on "manage backups" the drive doesn't show up there.
I have now started making a duplicate backup of the drive - this new backup does show up in "manage backups" . When I click on the desktop Dropbox icon it shows up there under "sync and backups". However - in Backups, it also show "error - can't backup this drive" under status.
Is it possible to reconnect this original backup so I don't have to sync 2.5TB again?
See screenshots - original backup is "Lacie 16TB", duplicate backup is "Lacie 16TB (1)"
- Walter
Dropbox Staff
Hi Stretch1, sorry to hear you're having issues with this.
Could you try hovering your mouse over the error shown on your first screenshot? Does it give any additional information perhaps?
If you've already reached out to our support team about this, please let us know your ticket ID so that we can look it up as well.
Thanks!
Hi when I hover over "error" the text says "can't backup device. Plug in device again to restart the backup process"
I have tried ejecting and remounting the ext. drive - it shows up on the desktop and functions ok but still shows Error in Backups
Have also tried physically unplugging it, disconnecting the power supply and then plugging it back in, also doesn't work
