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xuser06's avatar
xuser06
Helpful | Level 6
3 years ago

External hard drive won't back up on Mac desktop app

I am currently not able to get any external hard drive to backup to Dropbox backup.

 

I have previously backed one up successfully, but then that backup got corrupted and had to be deleted.

 

I even picked up a new Western Digital external drive to start fresh.

I have followed all instructions here:

https://help.dropbox.com/organize/how-to-use-dropbox-backup

 

I have the box ticked in preferences to "Show setup notifications when new external drives are plugged in."

Yet this notification (which I have seen before), won't show up with existing or the new drive.

 

The Mac Dropbox Backup app (on MacBook Pro, Venture 13.1) it will recognize that the drive is there.
But when I click to back up it just spins and never actually backs up any files.

No files or backup show up online, and the desktop client doesn't show that it is backing up files either.

 

I see the drive with the "back up Drive" option below.
But when I do it just spins (second screenshot) and nothing ever happens.

 

 

Computer Backup
desktop
Dropbox Backup

17 Replies

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  • Nancy's avatar
    Nancy
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    3 years ago

    I totally understand. From what I can see on my end, you still have an open ticket regarding this, so can you please check your email address once again and try to reply back to our support agent? 

     

    Please let me know when you’ve done so, so that I can also leave them an internal message with our convo.

  • xuser06's avatar
    xuser06
    Helpful | Level 6
    3 years ago

    Hi Nancy, I have replied to the email thread with the support agent.

     

    Thanks for the help on your end.

  • tetonman's avatar
    tetonman
    Explorer | Level 3
    2 years ago

    Did this get fixed? If so, how? I am having the same issue with nearly identical information. 

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

    Hey tetonman! Can you let me know of the differences you have with the OP? I’ll be able to further help this way.

  • tetonman's avatar
    tetonman
    Explorer | Level 3
    2 years ago

    I have an external drive that I had Dropbox backup from 2022 to now. In February of this year I got a new computer and it stopped backing my drive up. I see the drive on the Backups window on the desktop app and it has the green check with "Done" next to it but it hasn't backed it up. My computer recognizes the drive and so does Dropbox but it doesn't begin the backup sequence.

    The drive is partitioned and the only part I am backing up is a 700 GB Photos Library.

    Computer - M3 MacBook Pro - OS 14.3
    External - WD My passport 1 TB -  APFS

    Thanks!

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

    HI tetonman, if you're using a new computer, then it isn't possible to continue using the same backup as before, since you're on a different machine.

     

    You'll need to create a new backup with this external drive to your Dropbox account.

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