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

Hi BG Mahesh, if you want to reactivate the backup feature on the old machine, you can do so in the Preferences. Installing the app on the new Mac will sync any files from this page onto the new Mac. Bear in mind that the computer backup files from the old machine won't appear on the new machine.

 

fssbob, we do recommend not migrating the Dropbox folder to the new computer, if it's possible to exclude it during the process, to prevent any permissions issues. 

BG Mahesh's avatar
BG Mahesh
Explorer | Level 3
3 years ago

I figured this a bit late, I may sound dumb, so be it - backup and sync are different

All I care about is syncing files.

 

- On my new Mac, I uninstalled Dropbox

- Installed dropbox, logged in

- All files got downloaded to my new Mac

- The only thing I don't like is that the Dropbox location is hardcoded now to /users/myname/Library/CloudStorage/Dropbox - and I cannot find this Dropbox folder easily in Mac Finder, it seems to be hidden. The only way I can reach this folder is by searching for a folder inside Dropbox. 

 

  • fssbob's avatar
    fssbob
    Collaborator | Level 10
    3 years ago

    BG Mahesh There are a number of ways to get to it more easily. One is to click on the Dropbox icon in your menu bar, and then click on the folder icon in the dropdown that appears. You can also enable "Cloud Storage" in Finder Settings / Sidebar.

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

    fssbob, as you can't exclude folders during the migration, the safest option to prevent permission and syncing issues would be, on the old machine, to disable any computer backup, sign out of the Dropbox desktop application, delete the Dropbox folder, and then progress with migration to the new machine.

     

    When you then sign in on the new device, the files would resync from the Dropbox site.

  • fssbob's avatar
    fssbob
    Collaborator | Level 10
    3 years ago

    Jay, Thanks--that's good advice for now. But can I ask you to escalate this issue to Dropbox Development to see if they can make things easier for Mac users with large Dropbox folders. It would be great if Dropbox could adjust its setup process to once again support the way it used to work: If there's already a Dropbox folder there, the setup process checks with the user, and then syncs that folder to the user's Dropbox account.

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

    Thanks, we appreciate any feedback on how to improve the Dropbox service, and we take all comments into consideration.

  • BG Mahesh's avatar
    BG Mahesh
    Explorer | Level 3
    3 years ago

     

    fssbob - Dropbox App on this version of MacOS clearly says the path is hardcoded, we cannot change the path 😞

     

  • fssbob's avatar
    fssbob
    Collaborator | Level 10
    3 years ago

    BG Mahesh Yes, that's correct. I'm not sure what I said that sounded different. I gave you two ways to quickly reach the folder in Finder, but its location is fixed.

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

    Hey BG Mahesh, are you still having issues with this?

     

    If so, could you try these steps to reset your computer's OS folder and let us know if they helped?

     

    1. Click the Dropbox icon in your menu bar.
    2. Click your profile picture or initials.
    3. Click Preferences.
    4. Click the Accounts tab.
    5. Press the Option key (on Mac) and at the same time click the Reset OS folders locations button.
    6. Click Continue to proceed.

    Thanks!

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