Hard drive clone and will be using both drives on separate computers: which will be recognized?

[TammyJo]

Hello and thanks for you time,

I've cloned the hard drive from my computer onto a new SSD drive that will be put in another computer. I've continued using the old drive and syncing to dropbox which included deleting quite a few old files, adding quite a few new files, and substantial folder creation/deletion/reorganization. My question is when I start using the new computer with cloned drive, will it sync to dropbox and undo all of my syncs that happened after I cloned and before I started to use the new computer/drive? Will the cloned drive immediately start syncing with dropbox? If the cloned drive does not automatically sync with dropbox, should I delete the DB folder and download/sync from DB to a new folder on the cloned drive? 

[Sanchez · Accepted solution]

Hey there, @TammyJo, welcome to our community! 

Well, I’m not sure about this one. From what I understand, your old computer, and your account online, are fully updated with the latest file modifications.

Now, if you cloned your old hard drive over to the new SSD, I would think that the “date modified” timestamps on your files will remain the same, that is they will be “older” than the files currently in your account. If this holds, then the state of your online files should sync down to the new computer to update it with the latest changes. 

Again, I’m not completely sure about this. Of course, the safest thing would be to sign the new device out of Dropbox remotely, then turn on the new machine (or prevent it from going online when you turn it on, and unlink it from our app’s preferences), and delete the Dropbox folder. When you sign in again, our app will create a new Dropbox folder on your new computer, and sync with your account. 

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions. 

Cheers!

 

[TammyJo]

Sanchez

Dropboxer

Thank you for the help! I backed up my old computer drive before doing anything. That allowed me to safely test what would happen if I turned on the new computer and let Dropbox start to sync. As you thought, the new computer's Dropbox folder was updated to reflect what is on the old computer and the Dropbox website. I think you are probably correct about the 'date modified' timestamps. Again, thank you and I hope this helps someone else in understanding what to expect if they are in a similar situation. 

[Sanchez]

Hey, @TammyJo, I'm glad to hear that this worked out for you! 

I think the key was the fact that you cloned the drive, instead of having moved/copied stuff over (as that would have changed the dates on the files). Good thinking on having a backup too 😉 

Thanks for getting back to me with the update. I think others will find this useful, indeed!