Forum Discussion

wmcorcor's avatar
wmcorcor
Helpful | Level 6
2 years ago

Copying From DropBox to USB Drive Taking Up Space on C:

I'm attempting to backup a large folder on DropBox by copying it to my USB-connected 4TB Drive

 

This seems like it would take the files directly from DropBox and write them to the USB drive....but I'm noting as the copy progresses, it is taking up space on my C: drive.

 

All files on my DropBox are set to Online-Only.

 

1) Why is it taking up space on C: when I'm copying from DropBox to the USB drive? The issue this is causing is that the folder I'm copying is larger than the free space I have on C: so I can't copy/bakup the folder without running out of space on C:

 

 

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

    Hi wmcorcor, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

     

    Could you clarify exactly how you're copying files across?

     

    Are you downloading them from the site directly to the external drive? Are you copying files from your local Dropbox folder into the external drive?

     

    This will help me to assist further!

    • wmcorcor's avatar
      wmcorcor
      Helpful | Level 6

      I'm on Windows 10.

       

      I'm using Window file explorer and doing a simple Copy of the DropBox folder and a Paste to the USB drive folder.

      • Walter's avatar
        Walter
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff

        Hey wmcorcor, sorry to jump in here, but could you send us a screenshot of where you're spotting the space discrepancy so that we can have a visual too?

         

        Also, do the files you copy over to your USB drive still show as 'online only'?