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Forum Discussion
Change Dropbox folder location on Mac
Hi I have a Dropbox account with 1TB of space but the problem is I can't use it all as keep getting error message on my Mac saying not enough space? I am only using 1GB at the moment, the problem i...
JohnnyR wrote:
And even more annoying is that I can't manually copy the dropbox folder in Finder (which is a 1000 times faster) and just point Dropbox to that location. Why is that not allowed?
Because if you move/remove the existing folder while Dropbox is running, Dropbox could see it as a mass deletion which would then be synced to your account online, deleting all of your files. But, with a few extra steps on your part, that's actually very possible to do.
Uninstall Dropbox. Once uninstalled, rename the existing Dropbox folder to Dropbox_OLD or similar. Reinstall Dropbox and use the options during installation to select the location for your Dropbox folder. As soon as Dropbox is done being installed, it will start to download the files from your account. Pause syncing or exit Dropbox. Move the content of your Dropbox_OLD folder into the newly created Dropbox folder. Resume syncing or relaunch Dropbox and allow it to index your files. This will take time, especially if you have a lot of files. Be patient and let it work.
Hi Sofia,
I did exactly what you describe, and it started moving the dropbox, however i got an "unexpected error occurred" and then it stops moving. Please help?
Roxy
I have the exact same problem. I need to move my personal dropbox account on an external drive to my startup drive, but every time I try to change the location it copies 80-100 files out of 4000 and then stops with an error message "An uninspected error occured". Really annoying! And even more annoying is that I can't manually copy the dropbox folder in Finder (which is a 1000 times faster) and just point Dropbox to that location. Why is that not allowed?
- Rich
Super User II
JohnnyR wrote:
And even more annoying is that I can't manually copy the dropbox folder in Finder (which is a 1000 times faster) and just point Dropbox to that location. Why is that not allowed?
Because if you move/remove the existing folder while Dropbox is running, Dropbox could see it as a mass deletion which would then be synced to your account online, deleting all of your files. But, with a few extra steps on your part, that's actually very possible to do.
Uninstall Dropbox. Once uninstalled, rename the existing Dropbox folder to Dropbox_OLD or similar. Reinstall Dropbox and use the options during installation to select the location for your Dropbox folder. As soon as Dropbox is done being installed, it will start to download the files from your account. Pause syncing or exit Dropbox. Move the content of your Dropbox_OLD folder into the newly created Dropbox folder. Resume syncing or relaunch Dropbox and allow it to index your files. This will take time, especially if you have a lot of files. Be patient and let it work.
- Thanks Rich for helping me out here!
I actually went a different route: I quit Dropbox, disconected the external drive (which contained both my personal Dropbox and business Dropbox files). When I opened Dropbox I was able to point my personal Dropbox to the internal SSD, and at the same time ignoring connecting the business Dropbox for the moment. I let Dropbox do its thing on my personal stuff and when it was finished I connected the external drive again and connected the business Dropbox again, which Dropbox thankfully remembered where it was on my external drive. So now it works but with a lot of unnecessary hassle I think.
