Populating dropbox locally via webdav before sync - Does a file metadata change trigger a sync?

[PhilX]

I have 3-4 TB of files in a Dropbox account. I wish to gain access to all of these files on a new computer via the same Dropbox account.
I would like to avoid syncing these files across the internet as that's going to be disruptive.

Due to the location of these computers and our network the easiest solution for me would be to use webdav across the LAN however this will change the file modified dates.
I've also been reading how dropbox uses a binary diff to compare files but I'm not sure if that would be triggered by a file metadata change.

Does a file metadata change trigger a sync?

[Jane]

Hey @PhilX, that's great question; thanks for reaching out on the Community! 

You’re on the right path thinking that changing the “Modified Date” will need to be indexed & may cause a “re-sync” on your connected devices. 

When it comes to the initial sync on the newly connected computer, I’d suggest having a look at this & this resources that could be useful as a starting point. 

I hope this helps, however please let me know how you get on with my advice or if you have any follow-up questions in your next reply here. Thanks again! 

[PhilX · Accepted solution]

Hi, thanks for the info, I did a little extra reading about how Magic Pocket works which gave me the confidence to proceed.

During the process (Yesterday) in which the file dates were all changed, Dropbox reindexed all the files, was able to figure out that all of the files existed on the account already and it didn't resync anything. The only bandwidth used was to rebuild the .dropbox.cache directory.

[Jane]

Great news @PhilX & thanks for sharing; pleased to hear that you got that sorted!  

Your follow-up message & the Magic Pocket link adds some more context on your thought process along the way, so I accepted your last message as the Solution instead if you don’t mind; I think it will be helpful to others visiting this thread in the future. 

Now that you know where you can find us, feel free to drop us a line here in the future for any similar questions. Take care until then!