Move some files from Dropbox to external drive, and then delete those files from my account

[AmandaNT]

I have 140GB of files which I need to pass on to another designer via an external hard drive. How do I take everything off my Dropbox (I won't need them anymore) and put them onto an external drive for them? I then want to unsync all these client files so they are not part of my dropbox anymore. The other designer does not have/need dropbox.

Thanks,

Amanda

[Elixir · Accepted solution]

Hello Amanda,

I imagine you are syncing the files to your computer hard disc. You can copy the files/folders from your computer hard drive to the external hard drive. Dropbox folder is just like any other folder in your computer, whatever you save inside the Dropbox folder, it is replicated in the Dropbox cloud and any other connected devices. If you no longer required those files, you may delete those files from your computer, and it will be deleted from Dropbox cloud, so would not take up space anymore.

However, note that if it is a shared folder with others, the files will also be removed from their Dropbox account/devices. If you do not want that way, please get back to us. There are ways to unshare a folder, and remove the files only from your Dropbox account, but not from other members. 

[frogtoastie]

Simply cut and paste the files from your dropbox to the external hard drive.. this will add them all to the drive and remove them from DB at the same time 🙂 

[sigridbwallace]

how do you access the cut feature in dropbox? when right cliking a file the cut option is not there

[Lusil]

Hi @sigridbwallace!

Are you trying this from the Dropbox folder on your computer? If so, please note that you should be able to do this as you would for any other folder. 

If you’re trying to do have a file that’s on the website available in a folder on your computer, you’d have to download the file/folder in question and save it locally. You can do this by following the steps below:

1. Sign in via the website. 
2. Click on Files. 
3. Hover over a file/folder so as to allow the box on the left-hand side to appear - click on the box to select the file in question. 
4. Click Download that should appear as an option on the right-hand side of your screen.  

If this doesn’t resolve your concern, please provide a bit more info on the matter and send a screenshot of the behavior you’re experiencing (omitting personal info) so as to have a better understanding of what you're seeing. 

Thanks in advance! 

[davidsiudmak]

I too am using Dropbox with an external hard drive. However, I recently just purchased a laptop that requires me to disconnect the external drive from time to time. Will it have to sync every file each time I reconnect or is this current syncing, which it's doing with the new laptop, a one-time occurrence? And how can I avoid a total-sync with new computers in the future? Thanks.

[Lusil]

Hey there, @davidsiudmak. 

Initially, I wanted to mention that if you have the Dropbox folder to an external drive, the Dropbox folder must be available when your computer boots and before the Dropbox desktop app starts. However, you mention that:

---

@davidsiudmak wrote:

I recently just purchased a laptop that requires me to disconnect the external drive from time to time.

Please bear in mind that if the desktop app starts before such a drive mounts and gets recognized by your computer, you'll see an error. Dropbox will then give you the opportunity to relink your Dropbox account or exit if it can’t find your Dropbox folder.

If the external drive is disconnected from the computer while Dropbox is running, there's a small chance that the app will start deleting files before realizing that the entire drive has been removed.

Although the desktop app should just index for changes instead of syncing again, in general, if the Dropbox folder is located on media that becomes unavailable, you may see problems including:

• Unwanted deletions
• Poor syncing performance
• Issues with extended attributes
• File system incompatibilities

As per your last query, please remember that using Dropbox on your computer is just like using any other folder on your hard drive, except the files you drag into your Dropbox folder automatically sync online and to any other devices linked to your account. 

This would mean that you have to make the Dropbox folder available on your computer. In other words, the first time you download and install the desktop app, syncing is necessary to ensure that you have your files available on your device. 

I hope this helped to some extent. 

[goldenlightmeg]

This does not work for me, on a mac desktop. Neither does drag and drop?

[Lusil]

Hey @goldenlightmeg, since, as mentioned previously, the Dropbox folder is just like any other folder on your computer, copy-pasting or cut-pasting can be carried out as you would in any other folder. 

Having said that, could you please elaborate on what’s not working for you? Are you getting any errors? If so, any screenshots (omitting personal info) would be very helpful. Thanks in advance! 

[axmk2000]

Getting back to the original question, I also want to put the files on an external harddrive in a way that makes them completely local and disassociates the files from Dropbox so they are no longer synced, and a person can use them locally without using Dropbox.  However, I do NOT want to delete them from my Dropbox account, as I want a backup of the originals.

When I copy (not move) the files to my external hard drive as mentioned above (just using drag-and-drop in MS File Explorer) it still shows as linked to Dropbox.  Does this mean they won't actually be available without Dropbox?  Will the files be deleted in Dropbox, even though I copied them & did not move them from my Dropbox account?