Forum Discussion

stuartcalder's avatar
stuartcalder
New member | Level 1
12 months ago

Unable to make all my files available offline onto new Mac

I've got a new iMac after the old one has just given up the ghost. All my files are fortunately backed up on Dropbox.  My back-up drive was unfortunately corrupted.  I've installed Dropbox on the new...
desktop
Mac
sync
janicetaylor's avatar
janicetaylor
New member | Level 1
12 months ago

That sounded promising, but unfortunately it didn't make any files or folders available offline.

janicetaylor's avatar
janicetaylor
New member | Level 1
12 months ago

Update: That action may have triggered a delayed response as it looks like files are syncing and downloading. It started out at over 127,000 files and is decreasing, now at just over 116,000 files. I will report back when the syncing/downloading is complete.

Thank you.

  • Megan's avatar
    Megan
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    12 months ago

    Sure thing janicetaylor! 😀

    Take your time, and let us know of any updates! 

  • janicetaylor's avatar
    janicetaylor
    New member | Level 1
    12 months ago

    Success! Thank you. All files are available offline after this process. Since they total around 170 GB, is it possible to move Dropbox files and folders to a dedicated external hard drive to free up space on my Mac?

    Thank you so much for your help!

    • Megan's avatar
      Megan
      Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
      12 months ago

      Fantastic janicetaylor! 

      Sure you can. You could either copy them over to your external drive, or move them there.

      Keep in mind that if you choose to move them to your external drive, they would need to be available offline (in order for them to preview without an issue) and they will get removed your Dropbox account.

      Or you could copy them to the external drive, and then make them online-only locally on the device. The choice is yours, and I'm here if you have any questions. 😄

      • janicetaylor's avatar
        janicetaylor
        New member | Level 1
        12 months ago

        As I think about it, the ideal situation would be to have a "live" external folder where files are synced as they are added by our team, not just me.

        I am not sure how the DB app could be configured on the Desktop to sync with an external targeted drive for the file and folders, if at all.

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