Best strategy for moving 100gb Dropbox folder to Thunderbolt 3 External SSD

[cianwalsh]

I recently bought a M1 Mac Mini with 256GB internal drive.

I currently work off a 512GB 2015 Macbook Pro with a Dropbox folder currently sitting around 102GB of files.

My intent is to keep a Thunderbolt 3 SSD as the main repository of files on the Mac Mini with the internal SSD reserved for the OS and Applications.

1. I know Dropbox prefers to be on the internal drive, but is it an issue having it on a constantly connected Thunderbolt 3 SSD?
2. I would prefer to copy across the Dropbox files initially rather than having to download and resync to this new computer so is this possible?

[Jay · Accepted solution]

Hi @cianwalsh, thanks for posting on the Community!

As long as you're aware of the possibility of data deletion, you can keep the Dropbox folder on your external drive, provided it is never disconnected, and that it mounts before the desktop app boots up.

You can copy the Dropbox folder from the old device onto the external drive, and then connect it to the new Mac. When installing the desktop app, make sure to choose advanced settings and the select the parent folder above the Dropbox folder on the external drive (i.e. /Volumes/External/ , not /Volumes/External/Dropbox). 

It will take time to index the folder, so that it will be able to sync later.

If you need any more details, feel free to message back!

[cianwalsh]

Thanks Jay, 

That was exactly what I needed info wise.

[Jay]

No problem, @cianwalsh, enjoy the rest of your week!

[Lita K.]

Thanks for this information, I was searching for it.  But I still can't believe that DB has not solved the dreaded data deletion issue.  Most computers don't come with massive hard drives anymore and external drives are cheap and fast and reliable.  I've had my data on an external drive almost as long as I've had a DB account, which is going on 10 years now.