move contents of dropbox to external hard drive

I would like to know how to keep dropbox on my laptop and have a copy on an external hard drive just incase something happens. I do not want to lose my designs.  I want them saved permanently on my own external drive.  Thank you for your help!

Like everyone else, I'm having trouble moving files from dropbox to an external hard drive.  Why would anyone use dropbox knowing how difficult this is?  This is a temp solution with a no-win ending!

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jayne wrote:

how do I move contents of dropbox

i.e my files and photos to an external hard drive

thanks folks

Sorry to hear you're having troubles using our software me5531 - would you mind elaborating on what exactly is not working for you?

If you want to move your Dropbox files to an external drive you should be able to do so normally supposing the external drive is one of a supported format ( NTFS for Windows, HFS+ or APFS for Macs while it should also work for ext4 on Linux devices) so I would appreciate a screenshot of the error you get, if any that is. 

Also, have you heard about Selective Sync which is a great way to free up disk space on any of your connected devices? 

Let me know what you find and we'll take it from there. Thank you in advance for your reply.

I need computer directions in simple terms that normal people can understand.  I have one file of pictures in Dropbox and now it is saying I need more storage before I can view the next set of pictures which are coming soon.  I wanted to move the pictures from Dropbox to an external hard drive without blowing up another laptop.  It should be a simple step, but from what I read, no one finds it simple.  I don't use an apple product, just a laptop with an external drive.  There are 208 pictures in Dropbox (which I don't consider alot) and I can't move them.  Help?

Thanks for the additional information me5531!

So you get an error when you try to move your files from your Dropbox Folder (on your computer) to your external drive, right?

Would you mind sending a screenshot of the exact error message you get so as to send you the most appropriate next steps? 

In addition, as you described this, I understand that your account is close to its storage limits. Is this correct? If so, to get your account under quota (or expand its storage) so as to be able to accommodate the next set of pictures as you put it, you can do any of the following:

1. Upgrade your account.
2. Increase your quota using referral bonuses or other promotions.
3. Leave any shared folders that put you over quota.
4. Move files that don't need to sync out of your Dropbox folder.

Let me know how this goes! 

This is fine.  But it does not solve the problem.  There should be a way to copy files directly from Dropbox to an external storage device (USB HDD for example) without the need to sync them to the local computer's HDD.  

Moreover, Dropbox should give users the possibility to sync their Dropbox files to an external drive directly, without intermediate steps.

Thanks.

In this case, you could use the website (at https://www.dropbox.com) and change your browser's settings to point to your external hard drive anarvaja! 

how do i upload to a thumb drive a quickbooks file in dropbox

My internal hard drive on my Mac is nearly full. I want to download pics from Dropbox and store them in my external hard drive but after following the process explained on the Dropbox site, it's not letting me do that. Why is that. I have synced my new external hard drive to my computer and they seem to be talking to each other, so why won't the files download?  Help please? Many thanks.