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Cloudsoverkorra's avatar
Cloudsoverkorra
Explorer | Level 4
21 days ago

Move my Dropbox files from PC to external drive

Hi! I don't have too much space on my PC to download all my files via Dropbox Desktop App. My goal is the backup all my files saved to Dropbox to an external drive. After I copy the downloaded files to an external drive, how can I then delete them from my PC to free up more space without it syncing and deleting the files from Dropbox.com? 

6 Replies

  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    21 days ago

    Hey Cloudsoverkorra - thanks for posting on our Community!

    If you're going to do this via the web, you'll simply need to download and move your files to your external drive directly.

    This way you won't need to use the Dropbox desktop app and sync any of your content on your computer. 

    I hope this helps! 

  • Cloudsoverkorra's avatar
    Cloudsoverkorra
    Explorer | Level 4
    20 days ago

    Many folders are too large to download via the web. If I were to delete folders from the Dropbox desktop app, is there a way to ensure it won't delete from the web? 

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    20 days ago

    Hi Cloudsoverkorra, could you try to move the Dropbox folder to the external drive?

    This will allow you to sync the files to that drive, and download all of them there, and at the same time free up the space from the local drive.

  • Cloudsoverkorra's avatar
    Cloudsoverkorra
    Explorer | Level 4
    20 days ago

    I can definitely try to do that. What is the best/safest way to move the Dropbox folder to an external drive? I have files that are in it currently.

  • Nancy's avatar
    Nancy
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    13 days ago

    Hey Cloudsoverkorra! Hope you don’t mind the nudge. 

    Were you able to move your Dropbox folder over to your external drive in the end? 

    If you need any sort of help, we’ll be right here.

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