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Forum Discussion

pellegrinogrigio's avatar
pellegrinogrigio
Helpful | Level 5
4 years ago

How can I stop Dropbox from trying to backup external drives?

Hi guys,

 

I've been trying for some time now to stop dropbox from:

- asking me to backup every external drive I plug in

- littering said drives with .dropbox.device files

 

I've tried everything. Is there a way to turn this annoying unrequested feature off once and for all?

Please no answers on the line of "never for this device".

 

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on the matter.

 

pg

Computer Backup
Desktop
Dropbox Backup
Setting up the apps
  • Megan's avatar
    Megan
    4 years ago

    Hi pellegrinogrigio, I hope you're doing well! 

    If you open your app's Preferences, and then click the Backups tab, do you see the settings there? 

    Feel free to send a screenshot of what you see there. 

     

    Thanks!
     

  • Megan's avatar
    Megan
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    4 years ago

    Hi pellegrinogrigio, I hope you're doing well! 

    If you open your app's Preferences, and then click the Backups tab, do you see the settings there? 

    Feel free to send a screenshot of what you see there. 

     

    Thanks!
     

  • jpliskin's avatar
    jpliskin
    New member | Level 2
    3 years ago

    Same question from a Mac user. There do not seem to be any local preferences on a Mac running the latest OS.

     

    Thanks,

     

    Joel

    • DM2021's avatar
      DM2021
      New member | Level 2
      3 years ago

      The steps to stop Mac prompt to 'auto backup' when external drives are connected are:

       

      A) Under top bar on desktop (believe its called the task bar) find your dropbox icon

       

      B) Pulldown menu and under the initials for your user name find 'preferences' (mine is under DM)

       C) There is a 'backups' preference. Click off External Drives Backup.

      [I have not yet time tested this method... as I actually just figured it out myself, after several annoying weeks of 'declining' prompt everytime I connected an external drive. But I'm pretty sure this is solution.]

       

       

       

      • Bob K.9's avatar
        Bob K.9
        New member | Level 2
        3 years ago

        External backup check box within Account>Preferences>Backups. Unchecked, but don't know when it got checked in the first place. and this fixed the problem with constantly being asked.

  • craigpay's avatar
    craigpay
    Helpful | Level 5
    3 years ago

    This 'nag screen' is annoying. It appears randomly and takes up a HUGE amount of screen space. There is no option to disable it. I won't ever click 'Turn On'. You're wasting your time.

     

     

    I don't pay for a product to nag me. It's clearly designed to bloat DropBox space, leading to an upsell in storage space. Well done to the genius who thought that up. Did you seriously not expect us to guess what you're up to?

     

    Please add a tickbox "Don't ask me again". We're grown-ups. (Mostly.) So we should be allowed to make grown-up decisions. (Like not being nagged. )

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