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bs98909's avatar
bs98909
Explorer | Level 4
2 years ago
Solved

Adding an external drive to the backup cloud devices

I have Preferences / Backups already setup, how do I manually add an external drive?

 

I have the check box for "External Drive Backups" and under devices I see that I have three devices listed. 

 

How do I manually add a HDD as an item to be backed up - Theis external drive is always attached to my iMac and it contains my Dropbox folder.

 

HELP!

Dropbox Backup
dropbox business
FAQ
  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    2 years ago

    After reading your original post again, I realized that you wanted to backup the external drive, which also contained your Dropbox folder. This isn't possible when using the Dropbox Backup feature.

     

    If you want to backup the drive, then you need to move the Dropbox folder away from the external drive.

13 Replies

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  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    2 years ago

    Hi bs98909, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

     

    If you try to open the Dropbox Backup settings in the desktop app, are you able to backup the external drive from there?

     

    Keep me updated with any progress!

  • bs98909's avatar
    bs98909
    Explorer | Level 4
    2 years ago

    Maybe I'm missing that but I don't see any way to do that. I am on an iMac running version 182.4.6427 and when I click on the "Backups" tab I can see "Manage Backups" but NO PLACE to add any drives. When I click on the "Manage Backups" I see my systems listed that are using Dropbox for backups but again no place to add any thing. There does seem to be text at the bottom left called "Add a backup" but that just seems to be text and not a button or anything to click on.

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    2 years ago

    Under the 'Add a backup' section, is there no external drive listed?

  • bs98909's avatar
    bs98909
    Explorer | Level 4
    2 years ago

    I could send a snapshot but there is no means to send an attachment

  • bs98909's avatar
    bs98909
    Explorer | Level 4
    2 years ago

    Ooops silly me : [removed]

    and the drive is already mounted and attached to the iMac. The drive is mounted at boot.

  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    2 years ago

    Hey bs98909, sorry to jump in here, but could you use the camera icon (insert photo option) in your reply's box to attach your screenshot instead of sending us a shared link to it?

     

    Also, can you maybe navigate to your backups page online and let us know if you can backup your external drive from there? 

  • bs98909's avatar
    bs98909
    Explorer | Level 4
    2 years ago

     

    Ah I see that now - thank you that

  • Hannah's avatar
    Hannah
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    2 years ago

    Sorry, bs98909, you mentioned that the external drive you want to back up, has your Dropbox folder in it.

     

    Do you mean a copy of your Dropbox folder, or the actual syncing Dropbox folder?

  • bs98909's avatar
    bs98909
    Explorer | Level 4
    2 years ago

    The rest of the drive the Dropbox is just one of 6 folders on the drive.

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