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jtlever's avatar
jtlever
New member | Level 1
11 months ago
Solved

Why does Dropbox remove a file from my hard drive when I "back up" to Dropbox?

Why does Dropbox remove a file from my hard drive when I "back up" to dropbox? The "dropbox help" info does not explain this. I've selected the option to "keep copies on my hard drive", but files sti...
desktop
  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    11 months ago

    Dropbox backup works by moving the directories in to the Dropbox folder and putting shortcuts in the original location. The exception to this is external drives that are backed up. 

    Personally I think backup is really, really counterintuitive and complicated. 

jtlever's avatar
jtlever
New member | Level 1
11 months ago

Hmm, I don't see shortcuts to anything on my desktop where the files originally were? However I do see the file in the folder on my desktop called "dropbox" - is the file actually in that folder on my hard drive now? Or is that just a link there to the file in the cloud? VERY confusing and counterintuitive. 

Mark's avatar
Mark
Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
11 months ago

Dropbox's folder is on your hard drive, its using space like any other folder. It is then just 'replicated' to the cloud as long as the application is running.

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