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qihangZH's avatar
qihangZH
Explorer | Level 3
2 years ago

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

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

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox 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!

    • qihangZH's avatar
      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:

       

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

      then we unplugged the WD external hard drive:

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

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

      Hope for you reply!

      • Jay's avatar
        Jay
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox 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?