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Forum Discussion
I told Dropbox to not backup an external drive; now I've changed my mind
The subject pretty much says it all! I'm on a Mac and I connected an external drive (formatted HFS+). A popup came up asking if I wanted to backup this drive to Dropbox and I said no. Now I'd like to explore that service but I can't figure out how to turn backup on for this drive now that I've dismissed the popup.
Is there a way to turn backup on for this drive other than reformatting it?
- Hello!
I had reinstalled the app already (though I’m not sure I did a full uninstall first) but in the end I had some spare time and so I transferred the files from one external drive to another then reformatted the drive so it would trigger a new request to backup. This worked. As a suggestion, it seems like there should be some manual way to tell Dropbox to backup a drive after originally indicating not to and not to ask again.
Thanks!
I'm having this exact same issue! I said "No" to the initial pop-ups, now I can't get them to return! Someone at DropBox is looking into it ....
I am facing the same problem here. Said no to the backup, but now I want it.
Where does DP store that decision?P.S.: I am using a mac
I was battling to solve same issue and solution that worked for me:
1. Control Panel> Hardware and Sound>Devices and Printers
2. Remove External Hard Disk
3. Eject Hard Disk
4. Plug it back in
All done with dropbox running and open on the background, and boom, it triggers the pop-out "Do you want to backup your external drive?"
Syncing...
I had a backup that started to have some issues and deleted it. I've now decided to do a new one but when I connect my external hard drive to my Macbook, there's no dialog box suggesting to do a backup. I've tried reconnecting the drive multiple times, reinstalling the DP app, but none of these things have worked so far. Is there any other way I can do a backup without depending on that dialog box? Or is there any way to do the backup?
I had a backup that started to have some issues and deleted it. I've now decided to do a new one but when I connect my external hard drive to my Macbook, there's no dialog box suggesting to do a backup. I've tried reconnecting the drive multiple times, reinstalling the DP app, but none of these things have worked so far. Is there any other way I can do a backup without depending on that dialog box? Or is there any way to do the backup?
While this may be helpful for Windows users, since the original poster is on a Mac (as are others), this doesn't help there. And so far, no one seems to have an answer for the Mac folks. It seems that even the Dropbox folks don't have a clue. Which sadly is about par for the course these days when it comes to support from tech companies.
I'm having the same problem. Are you seriously telling me that there's no way in the Dropbox settings to enable backup on an external drive, except to nuke all my data on the external drive and reformat it? What is going on? Dropbox want us to use this functionality for our most sensitive data? I honestly cannot believe this.
Hi, Windows or Mac? Tried that on Mac and it did not work...
I also have this problem and would really like a solution that doesn’t include reformatting my drive, as I would have to buy a new 2TB drive to do that. Which seems a bit excessive. Thanks in advance for any help!
I'm wondering if Lori from Dropbox (or anyone else) has unsubscribed to this thread since my "solution" of reformatting my drives was marked as accepted. It doesn't seem like there's been a fix for this so maybe a new thread should be opened by someone else who is still having the issue?
With all due respect that solution is unacceptable really 🙂 Dropbox should show the external drives along with the folders for us to checkmark which we want it to back up...
Recently I bought a new external SSD and when first plugging it into my 2016 MacBook Pro running Mojave, Dropbox offered to back it up. It's a great function. At the time, because I don't have enough room in my Dropbox account, I chose only a couple of specific folders. I later regretted these settings and wanted to change them, but then realised there seems to be no way to adjust these settings after the backup is established.
So I decided to delete the backup and start over. However, because I had already gone through this process once with Dropbox, it no longer saw this external drive as 'new', so no matter how many times I plugged it in. It just wouldn't see it and give me the pop-up to ask if I wanted to back it up. And, unlike on Windows, there's no option to click on a drive on Mac and tell Dropbox you want to create a backup of that drive.
In the end I contacted Dropbox support and we tried some things, including re-installing the Dropbox app and changing the name of my drive. Nothing worked. In the end I had to perform a deep uninstall of Dropbox using MacOS terminal to start over and get it to 'see' my drive again.
Putting aside the craziness of the fact that the only time you are able to control external drive backup is when you first plug in the drive, would anyone happen to know if there's any easier way to get Dropbox to 're-see' a drive as new if I ever have to do this again?
- Megan
Dropbox Staff
Hey sixstringbuzz, great question there!
Have you tried removing the external drive from your Mac, then re-connecting while the app is open?
Here's the relevant Help Center article. If this doesn't work out, let me know.
Thank you!Hi Megan,
Following up on this thread as its marked as solved but it isn't actually a fix. I am not willing to buy a second hard drive just to copy the contents across and then back - and no one else in this thread has been able to get any answers either.
Can you please clarify how to make the pop up reappear?
Hi!
Thanks for the reply. No, that didn't work.My external drive is a Samsung T5, formatted as Mac OS Extended (journaled) which I understand is the same as HFS+ which meets the required formatting.
I have opened the Dropbox app (it's always running on my computer but I quit it and reopened it just to be sure) and then connected the drive. No dialog box asking to back it up appeared. 😞
I have also made sure that I have not checked "Hide all setup notifications when new external drives are plugged in."
Thanks for any other ideas you might be able to offer!
Oh - I'm currently on a Basic account if that helps. If I'm able to backup my external drives, that would certainly drive my decision to upgrade though!
Disconnecting and reconnecting the drive while the app is open does not help.
What's needed, is an option in preferences to add external drives, but this so obvious it feels absurd to type it out.
I wonder how come this issue is neglected.
We've purchased a 700€/year plan. Seemed like a bargain, but now I'm encountering this issues (of course i wouldn't back up my drives when my Dropbox was only 3TB!) makes me seriously rethink our purchase...
