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LuckWinner's avatar
LuckWinner
Explorer | Level 3
6 years ago

Configure DropBox in the external hard drive

I need configure DropBox to sava my backup in the external hard drive. 
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  • Walter's avatar
    Walter
    6 years ago

    Hey there LuckWinner - how are you today?

    Why don't use selective sync which is a great way to free up space by syncing only particular folders to a specific device instead?  

    Anyhow, if you choose to go with the external HDD option, take into account that Dropbox can indeed be used with an external hard drive as long as you can ensure the drive is always connected to your computer while Dropbox (i.e the desktop app) is running. If the drive is ever disconnected from the computer while Dropbox is running there is a small chance that the Dropbox software will start deleting files before realizing that the entire drive has been removed. 

    Additionally, you should ensure that the file system of the external drive meets the file system requirements. Those can be found in the following Help Center article: 

    https://www.dropbox.com/help/desktop-web/system-requirements

    To move your Dropbox folder to an external drive use the steps in the following Help Center article: 

    https://www.dropbox.com/help/desktop-web/move-dropbox-folder 

    [The location you select is the folder the Dropbox folder will be moved to, rather than the folder your Dropbox files will be stored in.] 

    Let me know if you need anything else please!

Mark's avatar
Mark
Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II

Hi McnCurtis 

Dropbox is not intended to work on external drives and doing so CAN cause massive data loss or corruption. 

I'm afraid there is no way of having multiple folders on Dropbox either.

All i can think of is slowly moving the data from your external drive to the internal one, letting it upload and then taking it off the local drive with SmartSync

McnCurtis's avatar
McnCurtis
New member | Level 2
6 years ago

I was afraid of that, but thanks.

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