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I’d like to backup the entire contents of my large Dropbox account to an external hard drive. What is the best way to do this?
Considerations:
Any ideas appreciated!
Hey @rymanbugs, thanks for posting to the Dropbox Community today.
At the moment, there's no direct way to back up the contents of your Dropbox to your external drive.
With the new Dropbox for macOS app, the Dropbox folder is saved to ~/Library/CloudStorage and cannot be moved somewhere else.
If you don't have the space to make all your files available offline, to copy them to your external drive, a workaround would be to download your files in batches from the website and then move them there.
You can also use selective sync, to choose which folders to sync, make them available offline and then copy them to your external drive.
I hope this helps, but let me know if you have any questions.
Hannah
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support
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Hi Hannah, thank you for your quick reply!
I can't use the selective sync method for the reasons (1 & 3) stated in the original post.
I can probably download in batches, but some folders are heavier than others, and I foresee a headache coming as to keeping track of what's been downloaded, reorganizing in the final place in the external hard drive, etc.
This issue would be solved by 1 of the following potential features:
Would DB be willing to consider one of these features @Hannah ?
I love Dropbox, but we all know it's a good idea to have backups in multiple places. With Selective Sync, and running my work/life out of my Dropbox folder, it makes it almost impossible to routinely back up to some other place (preferably physical).
Hi from me as well, @rymanbugs, and sorry for jumping in.
I’ve sent your feedback on this to our team, so that they can see your suggestions and take them into account in the future.
If you need something else, I’ll be around the Community!
Nancy
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support
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Thanks, Nancy!
Hi @rymanbugs,
have you been able to find a solution for this? I have a similar situation and would like to create an additional backup on an external HD. I find it strange that Dropbox does not offer a solution.
Hi @rferretti
No solution yet. I also find it strange, considering a big part of DB’s value to customers lies in backups.
I am also looking to backup from my Dropbox account straight to an external hard drive.
I have the same issue. Any resolutions yet?
no - still waiting. may have to try another service.
Hi there!
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