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Forum Discussion
Dropbox has taken over files into my PC, and how I can restore them
I bought a new PC a couple of years ago and decided it would be a good idea to install Dropbox. I am not a techie and somehow every single document and file that I have created, despite being saved ...
Rich
Super User II
Super User II
anonymous wrote:
"Are you sure you want to copy this file without its properties?"
I've tried ... copying from my hard drive to my usb drive.
This isn't a Dropbox message; it's from Windows. Your files have metadata; extra attributes that are embedded in the file. What the message is saying is that you're copying a file which has file attributes to a file system that doesn't support some of the attributes that your files may have. This is common when copying files from NTFS partitions to drives that are formatted as FAT, FAT32, and other partition types.
This page goes on to explain it further (and better).
Thanks for replying!
Yeah, I've read that about the file systems and formats but I don't understand why that's an issue in the first place. Like why did the formatting even change if these files are mine to begin with? Why does dropbox need to do that to back up someone's files? Onedrive doesn't do that. I'm doing a free dropbox trial to compare services and so far it's been frustrating even beyond this problem.
Yeah, I've read that about the file systems and formats but I don't understand why that's an issue in the first place. Like why did the formatting even change if these files are mine to begin with? Why does dropbox need to do that to back up someone's files? Onedrive doesn't do that. I'm doing a free dropbox trial to compare services and so far it's been frustrating even beyond this problem.
- Rich
anonymous wrote:
Like why did the formatting even change if these files are mine to begin with? Why does dropbox need to do that ...Dropbox didn't do anything, and your files didn't change their formatting. This message typically happens when copying files from one file system, such as NTFS which is the default for Windows, to another file system, such as FAT32, which is a common format of many flash drives, for compatibility reasons.
The service involved, be it Dropbox, OneDrive or even just a regular file copy, doesn't matter and has nothing to do with it. Read the page I linked to for a better understanding of what a file system is, how formats differ, and the compatibility issues when copying files between them.
Thanks. I'd actually seen that article before but didn't realize that Dropbox doesn't somehow have to do with one of the different file systems mentioned, since I thought it had something to do with my problem (I've never encountered it before with other cloud services). I'd also read responses in the forum and elsewhere in which they attributed it to whether Dropbox backup was enabled or not. That was actually the response I got from a Dropboxer on this forum. So if this is likely a Windows-flash drive compatibility issue, do you have any advice on how I can save the properties of my files, save for converting the destination drive? I'm not very computer literate (use my pc for basics - eg browsing the internet, watching streaming platforms, creating docs for work that are basically Word/Excel/PowerPoint kind of docs) and I'm hesitant to try any conversion workarounds and such.
Oh, I also had the same pop-up message when I was trying to download folders from my Dropbox account to a 2nd PC's hard drive (new PC that I bought). That was the original method I tried to get my folders before trying to save them to the USB drive. The 2nd PC is on the same Dropbox account and that was why I initially thought Dropbox had something to do with it.
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