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Forum Discussion

Lageole's avatar
Lageole
Helpful | Level 5
2 years ago

How can I prevent the Dropbox app from re-syncing everything to my formatted device?

Hello, I'm writing you because I will have to format my computer - due to corrupted system problems - and so the question of my dropbox is raising. I have a video studio with collaborators ...
desktop
dropbox business
sync
Jay's avatar
Jay
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
2 years ago

Hi Lageole, thanks for messaging the Community!

 

Could you just clarify what you're trying to achieve exactly? 

 

Do you want to copy the account without transferring any data, or without syncing files from the site?

 

This will help me to assist further!

  • Lageole's avatar
    Lageole
    Helpful | Level 5
    2 years ago
    Sorry that was not so clear actually !

    I have to format my computer, and I want to do this operation achieving two things :
    - not losing any of the data on dropbox so unlink properly the account before formatting
    - retrive all my dropbox and the indexation after the reinstallation of the system (knowing that I have 45 TB of files sync right now)

    I hope it’s better explained ! 🙂

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

      Okay, thanks for the info.

       

      To safely unlink your account, you need to sign out of the Dropbox desktop application on the old machine using these steps, and then uninstall the app for good measure. This will prevent any files from syncing on that machine (including deletions). 

       

      Afterwards, on the new machine, just sign into the same account, and the Dropbox desktop application will begin to sync the files to your machine. Bear in mind that if you're using a Mac device, you might not be able to use an external hard drive if you're on the new File Provider version.

      • Lageole's avatar
        Lageole
        Helpful | Level 5
        2 years ago

        Ok thanks a lot for the unlik part, it is very clear ! I guess it will prevent any loss even formatting this machine right?

         

        Also, note that I was not so clear about it, but I'm talking about the same machine (but I guess it's the same than another as I will format it).

        Now, as I was saying, there is 45 TB of data to synchronise, and I'm afraid that the operation will take for ever. So I was wondering if they would be a way to copy the "offline" architecture / the indexation and copy that on the fresh computer to avoid all the re-indexation?

        Or any other way to make this operation faster?

        I am sorry my english is not perfect I hope this is clear.

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