Missing files and photos after adding them to Dropbox and syncing to a new laptop

[JaneLH]

I recently bought a new laptop and wanted to transfer all my files and photos over to it.  Dropbox looked like an easy way to do it, but I am noticing many of my photos and files are missing from the new laptop.  Dropbox is saying the sync is complete.  Any assistance is welcomed.

[Hannah]

Hey @JaneLH, thanks for joining our Community!

Can you please guide me through the steps you followed for this?

How did you add your files to your Dropbox account?

And do you see that they're fully uploaded, when you look at your account online?

Keep me posted and we'll go from there.

[JaneLH]

Hi Hannah,

When I started up my new hp laptop I was intending to move everything manually, bit by bit.  But there was a prompt on the new laptop recommending dropbox and thought I would give it a try.  I don't remember the exact steps, but it seemed fairly easy.

It looks like all the files are uploaded to dropbox but some of my photos are missing - even from the 'dropbox move' folder.

The dropbox icon on the new laptop says my 'files are up to date', but will randomly start saying photos have been added.

Help would be appreciated - I am especially worried about my photos.

Thanks.

[Jay]

Hi @JaneLH, are you certain the the files were all uploaded from the old device? Is the Dropbox desktop application showing up as up to date?

Are the files visible on the Dropbox site directly?

[JaneLH]

Hi,

When I look at my old device, all files are gone.

The dropbox app says the files are up to date.

The files are visible on the dropbox site.

When both laptops are on, photos continue to be 'added' one at a time.  Slowly.

[Jay]

If photos are added slowly, does this mean that they are being downloaded, but the internet connection is slow?

Regarding the old device, why are all the files missing? Is that app showing as up to date as well, or syncing?

[JaneLH]

Isn't that how dropbox works?  They files are uploaded from one computer and then downloaded to another?  My internet connection is not slow.

On the old device, the files are in a folder marker my dropbox move.

[Jay]

Just for clarification, are you on a new HP or Dell device, and were you using the data migration tool?

[JaneLH]

old device is Dell; new device is HP.

And yes, I was using dropbox.

[Jay · Accepted solution]

Could you try changing the bandwidth limit on the Dropbox desktop application to increase the download speed in the app for files to sync faster?