Forum Discussion

Lamateur01's avatar
Lamateur01
Explorer | Level 3
2 years ago

Transfer to the Cloud without going through the Mac's hard drive.

How to transfer files from external hard drive without making a copy on the internal hard drive of the iMac? My internal hard drive is almost full. So I can't save the files that are on the external ...
desktop
FAQ
sync
upload
Web
Lamateur01's avatar
Lamateur01
Explorer | Level 3
2 years ago

I drop the files into the "Dropbox" tab in Finder. The files are copied to my internal hard drive. Then I right-click and choose the "store online" option. The files are then sent to the cloud. The files are then deleted from my internal hard drive but remain in the cloud.

Nancy's avatar
Nancy
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
2 years ago

Hey Lamateur01! Sorry for chiming in. 

 

From what I understand, you’re using the “make online-only” option from the right-click context menu. Your files are already synced to the website (our servers) by that time; this option is to make sure they’re not taking up space from your local hard drive (the files should still be showing up in your Dropbox folder after that, but as a placeholder instead). 

 

As for the speed of the upload/sync, keep in mind that, in general, uploading/syncing is slower that your internet connection, as it includes a few background processes that need to be completed (you can check this post for more details).

 

Other than that, everything seems to be working properly on your desktop app.

  • Lamateur01's avatar
    Lamateur01
    Explorer | Level 3
    2 years ago

    Thanks for your help. I think I'm starting to understand better.
    I'll get back to you if I have any further questions.

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