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TimP's avatar
TimP
Helpful | Level 5
7 years ago
Solved

What's the best way to back up the Dropbox folder if I don't have enough space to sync all files?

Hello, I'm using Dropbox Business with Smart Sync. I would like to brckup my entire dropbox to an external hardware (alternative ideas welcome). According to Dropbox support I would have to: ...
desktop
  • Jane's avatar
    Jane
    7 years ago
    I appreciate it that you circled back to us here Tim (TimP), let me clarify matters in a bit more detail for you below!
     
    I simply don't have enough space. I was hoping there is a way to download the entire content from the website.
     
    Please bear in mind that by suggesting the Dropbox folder move to your external hard drive, I meant the remaining folder after unlinking (which is just a simple folder as any other on your OS). This essentially implies that if you had chosen to exclude any of your content from syncing to your desktop, this will also be eliminated when you move files/ folder from your internal to your external drive. If you decide to follow my advice, it will be the same as if you downloaded your content in smaller chunks (i.e. via the website). 
     
    In other words, you can sync your files to your desktop utilizing Selective Sync; once you get all folder structures you’d need to backup fully synced, you can unlink & then safely move the folders to your external hard drive to back them up. 
     
    From there, you can re-install the desktop application anew changing the Selective Sync settings in order to get going with the second backup batch &c. 
     
    I hope that this illustrates my point a bit more clearly; please let me know if you have any follow-up questions! 
Hsd's avatar
Hsd
New member | Level 2
7 years ago

Can I make a suggestion? I have my DropBox account linked to a Synology NAS. That NAS has a package called CloudSync and it syncs the contents of my DropBox folder to a shared folder on that NAS. I have it set one-way, so all changes to the Dropbox folder are synced to the shared folder on the NAS. It runs every night by schedule (it can run continuously too).

So during the night all changes I made to the Dropbox folder during the day are written to the NAS.

TSD2's avatar
TSD2
Helpful | Level 6
7 years ago

It looks like the CloudSync would work.

But I have found a solution that works well for me.

"SyncBackPro"  can connect to Dropbox (and google drive etc) and backup or sync to anywhere. I have used SyncBack products for years and love them all I needed to do was upgrade to pro.

Thanks for your help.

  • CEHTeam's avatar
    CEHTeam
    Helpful | Level 6
    7 years ago

    Great suggestions!  I have a basic understanding of NAS.  Have just started to look into it.  It might be a tad above my "pay grade" but we need it for a lot of reasons (business and personal storage).  I got lost in the sea of RAID and DROBO and somehow find myself looking at NAS wondering if it was something we could use.

    That said, I recently purchased FileZilla Pro.  It works for GDrive but not for Dropbox. Checked out SyncBackPro but looks like it's only for Windows (arrrrggghhh) I'm on a Mac and would probably need something multi-platform if possible as I have different machines set up in my house.  I feel like I might need some local geek setup for helping me figure this out.  But it feels like the right direction.  Thanks for your help!

     

    Let me know if you know of another program that will sync Dropbox but that will work on a mac.

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