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Forum Discussion
External drive auto backup
Can anyone please advise how I set up external drive auto backup? I originally saw the box pop up, asking if I wanted Dropbox to automatically back up the drive, but I clicked No. Now I've changed my...
- If any other users are experiencing a similar issue, we recommend following this solution:Can you please first eject the external drive, then sign out of the Dropbox application, sign back in, insert the external drive, then check to see if you receive that original prompt? This should help resolve the issue.Instructions on how to sign out of the Dropbox desktop application can be found below:
- Open your Dropbox desktop app preferences.
- Click the Account tab.
- Click Sign out.
Walter
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHey Helen J.3 - thanks for posting on our Community!
You should be able to adjust your external drive backup settings through the app's preferences, under the Backups tab.
Let me know if you have anything else to ask!
Thankss for your reply. I have tried this, but the only folders showing in Backups > Set up > are... Desktop / Documents / Downloads / Music / Pictures / Movies. My external drive isn't showing. Any further advice, please?
Thanks, Helen
- MeganHey there, Helen J.3, happy Thursday!
Can I ask the type of your external drive?
Keep in mind that this feature works with NTFS drives on Windows and APFS or HFS+ on Macs.
Keep me posted, and we'll take it from there.Same issue here, the drive is AFPS (Mac). I selected no when I first plugged the drive in but use-case has now changed but there doesn't appear to be an option to add it.
The backup tab gives five options: This Mac, External Drive Backups, Photos, Devices, Screenshots.
- This Mac allows for user files (desktop, downloads, etc.)
- External Drive Backups is just a tick box (tried selecting/de-selecting tickbox, ejecting/connecting ext
- The others don't seem relevant
Am I missing something?
I do not want Dropbox to download automatically the content of any external drive when it is plugged in. I cannot get further than asking it to be done "later".
So, following the advice here, I click on my avatar, then Preferences, then Safeguards, but do not find any tab for Configuration, so cannot go further. I have a personal account, of which I am the administrator. What can I do ?
To summarise : I use Dropbox to store my current files, and regularly download to my hard disc as work finishes on a particular job. I do not want to downloading from drives that themselves contain my backups (I keep three full external backups).
This is my first contact with the community, and would be pleased have some hints on what to do.
- Nancy
Hi DenisM5, and welcome aboard the Community!
if l get this right, you don’t wish to back up your external drives to Dropbox, correct?
If external drive backup has already been enabled on your device, could you take a look at this link, and let me know if it helps?
In general, your external drive backup doesn’t take up space from your main hard drive, since these files can only be found on www.dropbox.com, besides your external drive.
Let me know, if you’ve got any questions though.
Thanks for the prompt reply, Nancy.
I have read the link you give. It offers to allow me to suspend the backup, whereas I want remove the possiblity, and have in Dropbox only what I am working on. So I moved on to 'Suppression de la sauvegarde", which sounded better. But it seems to suggest, not that I can stop the backup, but that, once it has been done, I can remove it.
My problem arose on a new computer, to which I was downloading existing files using a synchronisation application. I discovered that Dropbox was simultaneously downloading hundreds of archive files into... itself. I then had to remove them in a cumbersome way, bunch by bunch. I really do not need all my music archives in Dropbox. I am already very careful with keeping separate backups.
I wish the Preferences tab on Dropbox would include a button to remove the possiblity of such unwanted synchronisations. Can you help ?
DenisM5 : I sounds to me that you have *not* enabled external drive backup but you keep getting an annoying prompt. If that's the case, then try Dropbox app --> Preferences --> Backups as shown in the screenshot below. Uncheck External Drive Backups "Show setup notifications..." Maybe this will disable the annoying prompt. The irony here is that I reopened this thread 'cause I cannot get the prompt no matter what I do!
Steve D, thanks for the suggestion. I am reluctant to uncheck "Notifications" because, if I am not notified, and thereby able at least to postpone the backup (whereas I want to cancel the option), then I may find myself again in the position of having vast quantites of unnecessary files starting to transfer to Dropbox, and needing to be removed, tediously, bunch by bunch. (This suggests that I have accidentallyi enabled downloading, that is what I want to change.) I am looking for a permanent solution in which Dropbox does not try to download external drives that have nothing to do with it.
