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STOP Dropbox from backing up external drive
I made the mistake of accepting a request from Dropbox to back up an external drive plugged into my Mac. I didn't stop to think the files in that drive were going to be huge video files that should NOT be backed up to Dropbox. How do I stop the backup of that external drive? The help section says go to the preferences of the Mac Dropbox app and uncheck folders I don't want to be synced. There is NO such option. The only option is to uncheck something about set up notifications for new external drives.
There was another help suggestion that suggested right clicking "the backup" and pausing it. WHAT backup?? I don't see the external drive listed anywhere in my Dropbox folder, and right clicking the external drive icon on my desktop doesn't show any Dropbox options.
How do I stop this backup without disabling ALL backups??
Thank you for any help on this....
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- Megan
Dropbox Community Moderator
Hey there sanchmo, happy Monday!
You should be able to see your external drive, inside your Dropbox folder. Can you confirm if this is the case here?
You can remove your external drive backup in the same way that you would any other Dropbox folder, by deleting it.
When you delete an external drive backup from Dropbox, it simply deletes it from Dropbox, not from your external hard disk.
Can you give this a go?
Thanks! Megan, I have the same thing happened to me. I went to my dropbox and deleted my external drive. But when I hit "resumed syncing", it still trying to sync many files from my external drive. How to I cancel the sync? Thanks so much!
- MeganHi x3kristy, I hope you're doing well!
Can you update me on your app's version and syncing status?
Is the external drive removed?
Thanks a bunch! Yes, I removed the external drive, deleted the external drive copy from dropbox, resume syncing and it still syncing the files that are in the external drive. How is that possible?
Hi Megan, I can't find what my desktop app version is but I trashed and downloaded the latest version and installed it on my desktop, it seems to do the trick. It's no longer syncing my external drive. Thanks so much for reaching out.
I have this EXACT same problem!!!
I followed your instruction and deleted the external HD from Dropbox. Because of the very large size of that external HD, my Dropbox account was more than maxed out and I got the corresponding error message that I need to upgrade. Now that I have deleted that external HD, will the space be reclaimed by Dropbox automatically? If so, I will be well within my plan's limits.
UPDATE: I restarted my MAC and after a day, the files that were deleted, i.e. my external HD, have now been completely eliminated as pertaining to the space they were taking up. I am now well within my Basic Plan parameters!
I still have the same issue. I've deleted the external drive from dropbox, unistalled the app, restarted computer, installed app again and the sync of the external drive is waiting to resume. This is so annoying as I need to backup important files. Please advise on how to get dropbox working like normal again
