Forum Discussion

Justin Jia's avatar
Justin Jia
Explorer | Level 3
3 years ago

Sync Dropbox to External Hard Drive

The Dropbox backup function allows backing up files from an external hard drive, but there is currently no function to sync a dropbox folder to an external hard drive. Could you please add such a fun...
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sync
NickiZ's avatar
NickiZ
New member | Level 2
3 years ago

I am sooo confused.  I've been using Dropbox for years with my PC.  

  I have recently transferred a set of files to an EHD that are very important to me.  Family History, Photos, Scrapbook Pages.  I would like to be able to put these files in Dropbox so that I can access them on my phone when I'm at family events and such.

  So here's my issue.  I transferred these files to an EHD to conserve space on my PCs hard drive.  I'm finding that if I upload these files to Dropbox (so that I can view them on a web browser or my phone, wherever I'm at) that they are syncing with my pcs hard drive.  I also want these files to sync with Dropbox, so that if I add info to them from my pc that the changes will be available to me the next time I open them on my phone.

  I've been trying to add them to dropbox for the last couple of days and the upload crashes.  I think it's because there is not enough room on my pcs hard drive (because they keep syncing to the PCs hard drive).  I want them only to sync to the EHD drive - not the PC drive.

  If this can't be done - tell me that, if it can be done - please, please tell me how.  I realize this has already been asked and answered somewhere but I can't find it.  Thank you for your time!

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

    Hey NickiZ, thanks for reaching out to us.

     

    Indeed, when you move files to the Dropbox folder, they'll need to take up space on your hard drive, in order to sync to your account and connected devices.

     

    You have a couple of options in your specific case.

     

    You could use our backup feature, to basically back up your EHD to Dropbox, without moving the files to the Dropbox folder.

     

    This will allow you to have a static copy of the files in your Dropbox and you can edit/update your files directly from the EHD and the edits will be backed up to your Dropbox.

     

    Another thing you can do, would be to move the Dropbox folder itself to your EHD, however, it's not something we recommend, due to risk of file loss.

     

    Let me know if you have any questions.

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