You might see that the Dropbox Community team have been busy working on some major updates to the Community itself! So, here is some info on what’s changed, what’s staying the same and what you can expect from the Dropbox Community overall.

Forum Discussion

JohnCrawford's avatar
JohnCrawford
New member | Level 2
7 years ago

“something similar” to SCP for Dropbox

I'm trying to backup some file on my Linux server to Dropbox. I do *NOT* want to install Dropbox on my server as I do *NOT* want any of the files on my Dropbox account to be on this server.

I'm looking for something similar to SCP, so it will look like this: 

scp backupDocument.txt mydropbox:/folder/save

Basically I should be able to copy a file from my server and paste that file into my Dropbox account without needing to install Dropbox on the actual server.

 

Dropbox Basic
Linux
sync
  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    7 years ago
    Well, if your server doesn’t have a GUI whatsoever, then you’ll need to find another solution to somehow access a browser, since there isn’t a Dropbox command line to directly login to your account.
     
    You could use a CLI browser like Lynx and open the link there to see if that helps.
     
    Otherwise, you could even type the link generated on a normal computer which does have a browser, and after a short time the server will be connected.
  • Shelton K.'s avatar
    Shelton K.
    Helpful | Level 5
    5 years ago

    Better answer: 

     

    I recommend using rclone. It's like rsync but for third-party services. 

     

    Once you have it set up, your usage syntax will look fairly similar to your `scp` example. Here is how you would copy an entire "source" directory to dropbox:

     

    rclone copy /home/source remote:path/to/dest

     

    And configuration is pretty easy too. Just run "rclone config" and it will step you through the entire process of asking for your tokens and keys. It supports syncing and comparisons based on modification date, size, or checksum. Plus, it fully supports Dropbox for Business accounts and Team Folders. 

    :pushpin: Dropbox-specific documentation

     

    Be sure not to use the app ID that comes with rclone since it is used by anyone who didn't change the default. Create your own Dropbox App ID here: https://www.dropbox.com/developers/apps/create

     

    Rclone has been around for a long time, has frequent updates and lots of support. Highly recommended.

     

    • Kostia K.'s avatar
      Kostia K.
      New member | Level 2
      5 years ago
      I found a solution that allows me to do exactly this. It's called dropbox-up loader. It uses the Dropbox api. It's simple to setup first go get an api key from Dropbox then follow these steps : https://github.com/andreafabrizi/Dropbox-Uploader
      I am using it to backup my servers data to my Dropbox every night. (1.5 gib)
  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    7 years ago
    Hi John, if you don’t want to install the Dropbox desktop application, that means you won’t have a Dropbox folder on the machine, so it won’t sync automatically.
     
    Are you not able to upload the file to the Dropbox site directly? Are you planning to create an app using the Dropbox API instead?
    • JohnCrawford's avatar
      JohnCrawford
      New member | Level 2
      7 years ago

      This is being installed on a server and as such there is no GUI.  

       

      The install instructions found here: https://www.dropbox.com/install-linux are not that helpful as it doesn't have any details on how to connect to your actual Dropbox account.  

      • Jay's avatar
        Jay
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        7 years ago
        The Python script at the bottom of the page tells you how to control the Dropbox desktop application daemon, and there’s also this article with commands used in the script.
         
        However, simply installing from that page means you want files to sync to your machine, which is the opposite of what you want. 
         
        Of course, you could use the exclude button to selectively unsync every single folder on your account. Provided there’s nothing in the root Dropbox folder, no files should download to the server.
         
        Regardless, you won’t be able to upload to the Dropbox site without any folders actively syncing, so in the end this won’t help with your query.

About Create, upload, and share

Find help to solve issues with creating, uploading, and sharing files and folders in Dropbox. Get support and advice from the Dropbox Community.

Need more support

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!