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Forum Discussion
Backup from Dropbox to External HD
I’d like to backup the entire contents of my large Dropbox account to an external hard drive. What is the best way to do this? Considerations: I have a complex web of folders and files, some of ...
Hannah
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHey rymanbugs, thanks for posting to the Dropbox Community today.
At the moment, there's no direct way to back up the contents of your Dropbox to your external drive.
With the new Dropbox for macOS app, the Dropbox folder is saved to ~/Library/CloudStorage and cannot be moved somewhere else.
If you don't have the space to make all your files available offline, to copy them to your external drive, a workaround would be to download your files in batches from the website and then move them there.
You can also use selective sync, to choose which folders to sync, make them available offline and then copy them to your external drive.
I hope this helps, but let me know if you have any questions.
I have been a business Dropbox user for 6+ years. I find it absolutely absurd that DropBox cannot support a simple task such as being able to easily copy (we are talking about cutting and pasting!) MY Dropbox files from MY Dropbox online account or from my computer. That ludicrous to ask a user to copy their files in batches just to accomplish a simple task like this. I feel like DropBox is holding MY FILES hostage.
I am also very surprised to find that I can't get my files out of Dropbox to travel with them on my backup drive. It is like they are in cloud prison and I have to work hard to get them out. There has to be a simpler way to access my own files for whose rent I pay a good amount of money to Dropbox!! Why should backup be a one way only street?
Hi Smekuria (and everyone else),
What I do is this: in Safari's preferences (general tab) I relocate the download folder temporarily to my external HD, then go to my online Dropbox, select the folder I like to be on my external HD and click in the ... menu related to that folder the option 'Download'.
Works for me: I now have a backup of my Dropbox folder on my external HD. It takes a bit of time, but it's easy and reliable.
Hans
Hi Hannah, thank you for your quick reply!
I can't use the selective sync method for the reasons (1 & 3) stated in the original post.
I can probably download in batches, but some folders are heavier than others, and I foresee a headache coming as to keeping track of what's been downloaded, reorganizing in the final place in the external hard drive, etc.
This issue would be solved by 1 of the following potential features:
- Keep the download limit off Dropbox.com. However, allow a mass-download; simply breakup the files programmatically on Dropbox’s end into separate zip file of max size determined by you. Or download in split RAR files, max size determined by you.
- A feature of Dropbox Backup, but allowing the reverse: instead of backup from external, allowing backing up to external from Dropbox.
Would DB be willing to consider one of these features Hannah ?
I love Dropbox, but we all know it's a good idea to have backups in multiple places. With Selective Sync, and running my work/life out of my Dropbox folder, it makes it almost impossible to routinely back up to some other place (preferably physical).
- Nancy
Hi from me as well, rymanbugs, and sorry for jumping in.
I’ve sent your feedback on this to our team, so that they can see your suggestions and take them into account in the future.
If you need something else, I’ll be around the Community!
Thanks, Nancy!
I am trying to do this exact thing, and your suggestions are excellent. Did you ever find a good method of backing up dropbox onto an external drive?
Thank you
- No there doesn’t seem to have been any satisfactory feature implemented to support this yet :(((
I have the same issue. Any resolutions yet?
no - still waiting. may have to try another service.
