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I need to copy (not move) a Dropbox folder to an external hard drive.
Very simple..
Can you COPY dropbox folder to an external hard drive? And when I mean COPY, I mean make a COPY... as in making a backup of the entire dropbox onto a large external har ddrive. If so...
Hi dukeeastwood,
The Dropbox folder is designed to be a two way portal for anything you want in your Dropbox account and on a computer.
If you copy from the Dropbox folder, you can set the original in the Dropbox folder to "Online", after, which would all but instantaneously stop it taking up any space.
Is the the end goal to have the entire Dropbox account copied onto an external hard drive, and be able to make changes on the external drive without deleting or changing anything in Dropbox?
Signing out of the app will leave a Dropbox folder that can be moved, renamed, copied — all without any changes reflecting back to the account.
If you prefer to keep the app connected and keep using it to sync, you can set items to be ignored on the computer so changes made won't reflect to the web.
For more on how to do that, please check this out: https://help.dropbox.com/sync/ignored-files
Let me know if that might help!
Calvin2DBX
Dropbox Community Moderator
Dropbox Community ModeratorHey dukeeastwood,
Thanks for getting in touch!
Yes, exactly as Rich mentioned, you can copy Dropbox folders, just like any other folder on the computer.
You will need to be able to fit them "Offline" to do that, so it's a good idea to check how big they are on Dropbox, first.
Next, have you got the Dropbox desktop application installed?
With the app installed, you just go to the Dropbox folder on your computer, right click the item you want to copy, and set it as "Offline" — check the sync staus to see when it's finished downloading, and you can copy and paste it in your external drive.
Give it a try and let me know how you get on!
How do I specify the location I want the files to download to?
This app looks like it needs A LOT of work...
like for instance... selecting "offline" is how you Download a file? Doesn't seem like the word "offline" should be used for that... very confusing
- Jay
Hi dukeeastwood, you can copy the files to a folder using your file explorer on your machine, and choose where to move the files.
When using the Dropbox desktop application, files are not necessarily on your machine, depending on your plan and OS. Marking files as available offline means that they are physically downloaded to your computer, so that you can then open them normally.
WHERE IS THE FILE??????????????????????
I MAKE IT "AVAILABLE OFFLINE" OKAY... BUT WHERE IS THE FILE???????????????????????????
IF IT'S AVAILABLE OFFLINE WHERE IS THE FILE LOCATED ON MY COMPUTER... I NEED TO KNOW WHERE IT IS... I NEED TO KEEP TRACK OF THE FILES DUE TO THEIR SIZE, TO MOVE THEM AROUND... THE DELETE THEM AFTER I MOVE THEM.... THIS APP IS THE WORST I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I HAVE LARGE FOLDERS TO DOWNLOAD... WHY CAN'T I START BY TELLING IT THE LOCATION I WANT THE FILES TO BE MADE AVAILABLE OFFLINE AT!!!!!!!!!!! WHO MADE THIS APP??????????????????????????
