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Forum Discussion

pellegrinogrigio's avatar
pellegrinogrigio
Helpful | Level 5
5 years ago
Solved

How can I stop Dropbox from trying to backup external drives?

Hi guys,   I've been trying for some time now to stop dropbox from: - asking me to backup every external drive I plug in - littering said drives with .dropbox.device files   I've tried ev...
Computer Backup
desktop
Dropbox Backup
Setting up the apps
  • Megan's avatar
    Megan
    5 years ago

    Hi pellegrinogrigio, I hope you're doing well! 

    If you open your app's Preferences, and then click the Backups tab, do you see the settings there? 

    Feel free to send a screenshot of what you see there. 

     

    Thanks!
     

Bob K.9's avatar
Bob K.9
New member | Level 2
4 years ago

External backup check box within Account>Preferences>Backups. Unchecked, but don't know when it got checked in the first place. and this fixed the problem with constantly being asked.

pellegrinogrigio's avatar
pellegrinogrigio
Helpful | Level 5
4 years ago

Nope, it didnt' work.

I keep deleting the file and as soon as I plug the external drive it's there.

  • pellegrinogrigio's avatar
    pellegrinogrigio
    Helpful | Level 5
    4 years ago

    And NO, there's no checkbox to opt out external drives backup completely.

    And NO, there's no options that says 'No photos nor videos'.

     

    It seems to me like Dropbox is trying really hard to be your external drives backup, you like it or not.

     

    Where am I wrong?

    • Megan's avatar
      Megan
      Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
      4 years ago

      Thanks for the screenshot pellegrinogrigio!

       

      Under External Drive Backups, you can uncheck the box there. This way, you won't get prompted to backup your new hard drives each time you plug them in. Can you give it a go?

       

      As for your Autoplay settings, I can't determine how they're set up since they're not in English. 

       

      You can also have a look into this suggestion in our Ideas section, which has to do with the dropbox.device. file.

      • pellegrinogrigio's avatar
        pellegrinogrigio
        Helpful | Level 5
        4 years ago

        Hi Megan, thaks for you reply.

         

        You can't spot the difference between the option having Dropbox written on it or not, even if it's in another language?

        I'll translate: I selected the option to Open the folder with File explorer and not the one that says Dropbox.

         

        I tried your suggestion and now I don't see any messages when Dropbox still litters my devices, now silently.

         

        Please understand that I'm not trying to be rude.

        You cannot immagine how much this thing bothers me.

        I'm actually contemplating switching to other softwares beacuse of this.

         

        regards, pg

         

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