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Angie C.3's avatar
Angie C.3
Explorer | Level 4
3 years ago
Solved

Uploading directly from hard drive

Why does DB constantly fix things that aren't broken?

 

I discovered the new backup "feature" when I uploaded from a thumb drive to DB. The next morning when I tried to share the file, I discovered it wasn't accessible as a file - it was only in the no-man's-land of  "backup". 

 

I've done a bit of reading in the documentation, and have now moved the files off the thumb drive to my Mac, and will upload from my Mac to DB so I can make an accessible, shareable folder.

 

Is that really the new system, or am I missing something?

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  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    3 years ago

    Hey Angie C.3, thanks for posting on our Community and sharing your thoughts on this with us.

     

    It sounds like you enabled the Dropbox Backup feature for your external thumb drive instead of copying or moving the files from there inside your Dropbox folder. 

     

    If that's so, what you mentioned is indeed expected and you'd need to upload them to your account as you outlined if you'd like to share them as well, and not only back them up to your Dropbox account.

     

    I hope this clears things up a tad.

5 Replies

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

    Hey Angie C.3, thanks for posting on our Community and sharing your thoughts on this with us.

     

    It sounds like you enabled the Dropbox Backup feature for your external thumb drive instead of copying or moving the files from there inside your Dropbox folder. 

     

    If that's so, what you mentioned is indeed expected and you'd need to upload them to your account as you outlined if you'd like to share them as well, and not only back them up to your Dropbox account.

     

    I hope this clears things up a tad.

  • Angie C.3's avatar
    Angie C.3
    Explorer | Level 4
    3 years ago

    Thank you, Walter. I appreciate your speed!

     

    It sounds like you enabled the Dropbox Backup feature for your external thumb drive instead of copying or moving the files from there inside your Dropbox folder. 

    Can you explain how and at what stage I may have done this? I didn't know the function existed at the time, and I don't recall being given a choice (which is not to say it didn't happen).

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

    When you first plugged in your thumb drive, do you remember if you get a prompt to back it up to Dropbox perhaps Angie C.3?

  • Angie C.3's avatar
    Angie C.3
    Explorer | Level 4
    3 years ago

    I don't, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen! 😄 Very late, and very tired. I may have clicked it without giving it much thought.

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

    I get the feeling, Angie - we've all been there, believe me 🙂

     

    Let me know if anything else comes up! 

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