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Forum Discussion
No dialog box when connecting external HD?
I want to back up my external HD to my Dropbox account.
What should happen: When I connect the external drive, I should get a popup that asks if I want to back up the external drive, I select i...
Megan
Dropbox Community Moderator
Dropbox Community ModeratorHey ylansegal, let's see what we can find together on this!
Can I ask the storage size on your external disk, please?
Keep me posted.
Can I ask the storage size on your external disk, please?
Keep me posted.
Lori,
Thinking a bit more about this: I may not have made my point clear. The issue is not that dropbox fails to backup the external drive. Rather, it's that I can't figure out a way to tell dropbox to backup the external drive in the first place. The help article says that the dropbox will automatically prompt for backup when connecting the drive. That doesn't happen.
How do I tell dropbox to backup the external drive on a Mac?
Thank you so much,
- WalterHey there ylansegal, sorry to jump in here, but can you clarify if the desktop app is running normally when you plug the external drive into the computer in question?
If it's running indeed, you should be getting two separate prompts for each of your external drive's partitions.
Yes, dropbox desktop is running and syncing files in my Dropbox folder correctly.
I am getting neither prompt, although I am mainly interested in one of the partitions. The other one I don't intend to backup to Dropbox.
- Hello,
I’m not sure this is the same issue I started the thread about…you might community answers on a new post. I never found a fix for this. The only way to get Dropbox to recognize the drive was to reformat it and reconnect it. I couldn’t get Dropbox to prompt me to back it up any other way (it took me six reformats to conclude that). Good luck. Yes, Walter. Contacting by email is fine. Thank you.
Jennifer G.29 It seems like the same issue to me: I connect an external hard drive, and never get prompted for backup.
I appreciate that formatting the hard drive fixed it for you. I am not willing to do that. It's inherently destructive and seems like a poor experience for what seems to be failure in the Dropbox UI. It should have a way to tell it which external hard drive to backup on a Mac, like apparently is possible on Windows.
Hey All,
Same issue-- Drive is formated as HFS+ but I am not prompted to backup when the drive is connected. Is there any available fix?
Same issue here:
- 4 TB external drive, with 1.11 TB used
- formatted "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" according to Disk Utility, which apparently is just a different name for "HFS+"
- macOS 10.14.6
- dropbox v135.4.4221
- 2 TB family plan
- no suspiciously named hidden files in root of drive which would mark this drive not te be used by Dropbox Backup (what name or mechanism does Dropbox use for this anyway?)
A solution would be greatly appreciated
hello, I plugged in an external hard drive a few times to do some final management, so I dismissed the dialogue box asking if I wanted to back it up with dropbox. Now I can't find a way to sync this drive or re-prompt the dialogue box.
- MeganHi thejustintung, welcome to our Community!
Because the OP had a similar question, I've merged your post into this thread.
Would you mind having a look at what has been suggested already, and letting me know if you have any questions?
Thank you!
Sigh. Every so often someone chimes in and says they have the same issue. There are no workarounds provided, no guidance from Dropbox. Since I posted in September, I've had no resolution, even trying emailing support many times. It always ends in them suggesting I reformat my drive. Unacceptable.
I've requested a refund, since I bought Dropbox only for this reason. I've yet to hear back.
EDIT: Found it, thanks anyway.
Megan, how do I stop receiving notifications of replies on this thread? I’m the OP and not subscribed to any of the posts. Thanks.
- Yes. Dropbox Desktop is running correctly. It syncs fine. Like others and I have described multiple times, the prompt never appears, so we can't direct Dropbox to sync the external drive.
At this point I've given up and looked for a solution from a different company. I am pursuing a refund.
