DropBox Backup

[PimoG]

Yesterday, after uploading new photos from my iPhone the Dropbox App started something called Backup (German message: "Datensicherung läuft ..." which translates to "Backup ist executed". I choose no command to start this neither did I change any settings on my mobile phone or on the dropbox website. After the backup finished I got the message "Your Dropbox is filled up" "Upgrade now for more storage" (translated from German. My conclusion: Dropbox starts a feature so far unknown to me to sell me an upgrade 😞  What did really happen?

Thanks, PimoG

[Hannah]

Hey @PimoG, welcome to our Community and happy Monday!

This 'backup' process, where did it start? Was it something you saw on the Dropbox app on your phone, or on the Dropbox application on your computer?

If you check your Dropbox account, do you perhaps see a folder named 'Camera Uploads' now that wasn't there before?

Let me know what you find!

[PimoG]

Hey Hanna,

Thanks for reaching out! The backup process started after the most recent photos had been uploaded. Meanwhile I have got the impression that after this initial phase the backup process searchs all photos (and videos) in my iPhone photo library to check if there are any that have not been uploaded in the past. The progress of the process was indicated by the number of photos it had checkd so far. As there were some quite big videos  the Dropbox folder was finally filled, hence the upgrade proposal.
In the past I deleted those fotos or videos after the upload, that I did not want to be kept on Dropbox. This seems to be no longer possible allthough I found it was a nice feature.

Is this feature still available? Can I tell Dropbox that it shouldn't do the full scan?

Thank you.

[Hannah · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the update on this!

There is a setting in your camera uploads settings that helps you choose to back up only new photos and videos. If you change that setting, it shouldn't try to scan everything again.

As for the feature you mentioned, what did that feature do exactly?

[PimoG]

---

There is a setting in your camera uploads settings that helps you choose to back up only new photos and videos. If you change that setting, it shouldn't try to scan everything again.

As for the feature you mentioned, what did that feature do exactly?

---

"The feature" I mentioned ist exactly the one in your answer. The setting to back up only new fotos and videos. I did not know so far that there is also an option to scan everything within every single camera upload. Do you happen to know when that was released for the iOS variant of Dropbox? I assume it was released within the last two weeks or so.

Thank you very much for helping me to solve my problem"

Best wishes, PimoG

[Jay]

Hi @PimoG, the option to upload only new images and videos is available on paid plans which was released over a year ago.

The default option available to all plans is to upload all images in the camera roll on the phone.

[PimoG]

Hi Jay,

I understand, Thank you!

Best wishes,

PimoG

[Jay]

Glad to have helped out, @PimoG.

Enjoy your weekend!

[KyleHughes]

When You Paid for Extra Storage from iCloud, did you know that iCloud give You more Storage from Other Company for free as well did You know You can Maybe access it on Each Computer not just Apple

[PimoG]

Dear Jay,

it's some time agoe that we were in touch because of this matter. I use the basic option of Dropbox. Looking at Dropbox' setting options on my iPhone today I became aware that there is possibly still a missunderstanding with me. The top option is currently "Backup ...  only new fotos" (translated from German). I thought after exchanging the earlier messages with you and Hannah that "new" photos refer to those photos that have been taken since the last backup. I assumed the result would be that photos that were uploaded to Dropbox and deleted by me later would not be uploaded again. This doesn't seem to be the case.

When I checked the option details right now I found below the setting "only new fotos" the following explanation: "Photos you have taken after activation of Camera Uploads" (translated from German). This of course is totally different from my earlier interpretation.

What is the correct interpretation and is it possible to configure Dropbox so that photos deleted on Dropbox earlier will not be uploaded again. My intention is not to have a perfect sync, but a selection of photos that are worth keeping as a Dropbox backup - which are actually about 80% of my fotos.

Kind Regards,
PimoG