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Forum Discussion
How do I download every one of my files from Dropbox to a 2TB external drive?
My old laptop died and i want to download every file on DB to an external drive connected to this laptop . How do i do that in one or two moves.
- Rich
Super User II
icanplan wrote:
My old laptop died and i want to download every file on DB to an external drive connected to this laptop . How do i do that in one or two moves.
Dropbox doesn't have that capability. You can download your files from the Dropbox website and save them directly to your external drive, but you'll need to do it in batches due to folder size and file quantity limits.
The only other alternative is to use a third-party tool like Cyberduck or Mountain Duck to connect to your Dropbox account and copy the files that way.
So let me understand what I am up against. First is that DB easily has coppied my entire lap top and did it real quick. What you just told me is that to reverse that process, that I have to do these things in batches. Do you mean Cut and Paste or Copy?
Or my best bet is to buy an alternative software that i can use to log on to DB direct DB to use the new external drive and that will cost me somewhere between $30 and up depending on duck or cyber ..
- Rich
icanplan wrote:
What you just told me is that to reverse that process, that I have to do these things in batches.
It depends on what your goal is.
If you're adding this new laptop to your account and you want to continue syncing your files, but to an external drive, then Jay's method is what you want to follow and it will download the files to your Dropbox folder and continue syncing like it did before. You could also do that to just have Dropbox download all of your files and then unlink the laptop from your account, and you would have effectively downloaded all of your files to the external drive. This obviously requires you to install Dropbox on the laptop.
If you're just trying to download everything in your account to the external drive and you have no intention on continuing to use Dropbox, or you don't want to install the Dropbox application, then you need to do it how I explained. Either by downloading folders individually or in small batches (less than 250GB and fewer than 10,000 files), or by using a third party tool to directly browse or mount your Dropbox account so you can copy files directly.
First is that DB easily has coppied my entire lap top and did it real quick.Using the Dropbox application, yes, it did easily sync your files to your account. If you want to install the Dropbox application again, then it will sync those files back down. Just follow Jay's steps. If, however, you don't want to install the Dropbox application again, then it's not going to be as easy or as fast, or you may need to rely on another tool to get the job done.
- Jay
Dropbox Staff
Hi icanplan, thanks for contacting us.
As it sounds like you're using a new laptop, with the external drive connected, you could simply install the Dropbox desktop application, and have the Dropbox folder located on the external drive.
During the installation, there should be an option for advanced settings. Make sure to select the external drive, and have the files available offline, and it'll create the Dropbox folder itself, and start to sync the files to that drive.
Are you planning on continuing to use Dropbox on that laptop, or is this just a one off backup?
This will help me to assist further!
