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Re: Why my external hard drive can not be seen by Dropbox backup?

Why my external hard drive can not be seen by Dropbox backup?

qihangZH
Explorer | Level 3

I work with my WD Mypassport external hard drive. For safe, I backup it for the first time and then I hope it works. However, when I KEEP plugged in and restart, the dropbox backup said it could not detect the plugged in device(WD external hard drive) and could not backup. If I unplugged and plugged the external hard drive, dropbox will detect it. It really annoyed because the backup is so unstable and unsafe. Maybe there are some problem, I want the dropbox backup to detect my external hard drive whenever I use it. What is the Possible problem. 

 

Moreover, the WD external hard drive works properly ANYTIME it plugged in. The only problem occurs when I try to have a backup with dropbox.

Thanks.

Windows11 latest, Intel i7 12700H

4 Replies 4

Jay
Dropbox Staff

Hi @qihangZH, thanks for bringing this to our attention.

 

What error are you getting exactly, and on what page?

 

A screenshot showing this error would be greatly appreciated.

 

This will help me to assist further!


Jay
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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qihangZH
Explorer | Level 3

Dear Jay,

 

Thank you! I will post what happens in my PC:

 

Firstly, before I open my PC, I plugged in my WD external harddrive. The dropbox desktop always start automatically.

Then we click the icon of backup, it shows:

qihangZH_0-1679381551820.png

 

But, we can assure that the "My passport" could work properly:

qihangZH_1-1679381610345.png

then we unplugged the WD external hard drive:

qihangZH_2-1679381656066.png

Then replugged in, it is so "amazing" that the dropbox will find the WD!

qihangZH_3-1679381705626.pngqihangZH_4-1679381721095.png

Besides, when we quit the dropbox and re-enter, it will meet the same problem too...

qihangZH_5-1679382141718.png

Hope for you reply!

Jay
Dropbox Staff

The external drive backup feature syncs files once every hour, after the drive is connected and sync. Did the drive sync correctly when it was connected?


Jay
Community Moderator @ Dropbox
dropbox.com/support


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qihangZH
Explorer | Level 3

Dear Jay,

 

Yes, If connected, it will work properly. But it could not connect after take a lot of times in the condition I sent.

Besides, Dropbox(Basic function) could work will and sync real-time. The problems only occures in backup.

 

Some other problems may not relative with "connection" but the preference-selection subfolders, I think it is another problem and I will have another idea to share.

Need more support?