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sixstringbuzz's avatar
sixstringbuzz
Helpful | Level 6
5 years ago
Solved

I told Dropbox to not backup an external drive; now I've changed my mind

The subject pretty much says it all! I'm on a Mac and I connected an external drive (formatted HFS+). A popup came up asking if I wanted to backup this drive to Dropbox and I said no. Now I'd like to...
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  • sixstringbuzz's avatar
    sixstringbuzz
    5 years ago
    Hello!

    I had reinstalled the app already (though I’m not sure I did a full uninstall first) but in the end I had some spare time and so I transferred the files from one external drive to another then reformatted the drive so it would trigger a new request to backup. This worked. As a suggestion, it seems like there should be some manual way to tell Dropbox to backup a drive after originally indicating not to and not to ask again.

    Thanks!
Megan's avatar
Megan
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
5 years ago
Hey sixstringbuzz, great question there! 

Have you tried removing the external drive from your Mac, then re-connecting while the app is open? 

Here's the relevant Help Center article. If this doesn't work out, let me know. 

Thank you!
sixstringbuzz's avatar
sixstringbuzz
Helpful | Level 6
5 years ago

Hi!

Thanks for the reply. No, that didn't work. 

 

My external drive is a Samsung T5, formatted as Mac OS Extended (journaled) which I understand is the same as HFS+ which meets the required formatting.

 

I have opened the Dropbox app (it's always running on my computer but I quit it and reopened it just to be sure) and then connected the drive. No dialog box asking to back it up appeared. 😞

 

I have also made sure that I have not checked "Hide all setup notifications when new external drives are plugged in."

 

Thanks for any other ideas you might be able to offer!

  • sixstringbuzz's avatar
    sixstringbuzz
    Helpful | Level 6
    5 years ago

    Oh - I'm currently on a Basic account if that helps. If I'm able to backup my external drives, that would certainly drive my decision to upgrade though!

      • sixstringbuzz's avatar
        sixstringbuzz
        Helpful | Level 6
        5 years ago

        Correct - I am on the latest 11.5 operating system and made sure my Dropbox app is the latest as well! (v128.4.2870)

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