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TimP's avatar
TimP
Helpful | Level 5
6 years ago

What's the best way to back up the Dropbox folder if I don't have enough space to sync all files?

Hello,

I'm using Dropbox Business with Smart Sync.

I would like to brckup my entire dropbox to an external hardware (alternative ideas welcome). According to Dropbox support I would have to:

  • move my dropbox folder to the external hard drive
  • change smart sync settings to all local
  • move my dropbox folder back to the computer hard drive
  • adjust all smart sync settings

According to support there is no way to just download the entire dropbox to an external hard drive. Additionally "there's a small—but real—chance that the app will start deleting files". So that is obviously not an option.

Question: How do I backup my dropbox?

Account Security
desktop app
Dropbox for Business
Team admin
  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    6 years ago
    I appreciate it that you circled back to us here Tim (TimP), let me clarify matters in a bit more detail for you below!
     
    I simply don't have enough space. I was hoping there is a way to download the entire content from the website.
     
    Please bear in mind that by suggesting the Dropbox folder move to your external hard drive, I meant the remaining folder after unlinking (which is just a simple folder as any other on your OS). This essentially implies that if you had chosen to exclude any of your content from syncing to your desktop, this will also be eliminated when you move files/ folder from your internal to your external drive. If you decide to follow my advice, it will be the same as if you downloaded your content in smaller chunks (i.e. via the website). 
     
    In other words, you can sync your files to your desktop utilizing Selective Sync; once you get all folder structures you’d need to backup fully synced, you can unlink & then safely move the folders to your external hard drive to back them up. 
     
    From there, you can re-install the desktop application anew changing the Selective Sync settings in order to get going with the second backup batch &c. 
     
    I hope that this illustrates my point a bit more clearly; please let me know if you have any follow-up questions! 
  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    6 years ago
    Hey there ( TimP ), as long as the files in question are locally stored, you can work with them just like using any other folder on your hard drive (i.e. Online-only files are mere placeholders taking up approximately 0kb & containing minimal information about the file in question). If I were in your shoes, I’d merely unlink my account (which should leave the folderstructure on my device intact), move the Dropbox folder to my external hard drive & re-install the application from scratch. 
     
    If you don’t mind me asking, can you elaborate a bit on your OS specifications & what would be the ideal end-result, in order to best address your initial inquiry? Thanks in advance & I’ll be awaiting your next reply here Tim! 
    • TimP's avatar
      TimP
      Helpful | Level 5
      6 years ago

      Thanks Jane,
      I use the dropbox on my desktop (not in browser). I use smart sync, so it's not all stored locally. However, I do work with my files locally as you described (I guess that is the point of dropbox). I would like to add an extra level of security and backup my files to an external hardware once a week. I do not want to run dropbox from an external hard drive.

      I use Mac w/ macOS Mojave Version 10.14.3.

      Thanks!

       

      • Rich's avatar
        Rich
        Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
        6 years ago

        There's no need to change the location of your Dropbox folder if all you're doing is backing up your Dropbox. You would only do that if your intent was to move the Dropbox folder to a new location permanently.

        You do, however, need to have all your files local before you could copy them to another location for backup. There's really no other alternative. If your files aren't local, they don't exist on teh computer to be backed up. The only other thing you could do is download them from the website, but you'd have to do that in batches, and it would be a manual process.

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