Forum Discussion

Rick A.2's avatar
Rick A.2
Explorer | Level 4
7 years ago
Solved

Can Dropbox and OneDrive make peace?

I have a large volume of photos and I want them to be stored both in OneDrive and Dropbox. But I have discovered that pointing both services to the same folder makes each service crazy with sync errors.

 

I read about a possible solution with the MKLINK command, but I couldn't make any progress with that.

 

Can this be done? Can I peacefully share a folder with both OneDrive and Dropbox? If so, how?

  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    7 years ago
    There's nothing outlined here as it's not a supported configuration. It likely involves creating symlinks to the original folder location within the sync folder of the storage service. Symlinks are also not supported within Dropbox as Dropbox is not able to sync their content in real-time (the operating system doesn't notify Dropbox of file updates).

    What you're trying to do is really not recommended. Before you consider trying this you should ask yourself how important your data is to you.
  • Rich's avatar
    Rich
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
    It's highly not recommended to have two separate sync services, regardless of which ones, syncing the same data locations. As you've discovered, sync errors are bound to occur. It's possible, but highly problematic and is completely unsupported.
    • Rick A.2's avatar
      Rick A.2
      Explorer | Level 4

      Thank you, Rich. Before I give up altogether, and because there is no danger in my trying, I would like to know how it is possible. Is there a procedure that someone has outlined, even in theory, as to how it could work? I would like to try before I concede.

      • Rich's avatar
        Rich
        Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II
        There's nothing outlined here as it's not a supported configuration. It likely involves creating symlinks to the original folder location within the sync folder of the storage service. Symlinks are also not supported within Dropbox as Dropbox is not able to sync their content in real-time (the operating system doesn't notify Dropbox of file updates).

        What you're trying to do is really not recommended. Before you consider trying this you should ask yourself how important your data is to you.
  • Max22's avatar
    Max22
    New member | Level 2

    I never used dropbox and surprised that i cant see anyone before asked why i need it when i have for example onedrive. 

    Also I see problem here when syncing with both.

    Why not start with the most fundemental and explain that.

  • Zaidy036's avatar
    Zaidy036
    Explorer | Level 3

    If you do not mind the extra storage caused by duplication just copy the files directly into OneDrive from either the source or Dropbox. I do this to make a second backup of critical files. I have a folder named DropBoxCopy in OneDrive to isolate the copies and my daily unattended batch makes the copies while both Dropbox and OneDrive are suspended using PsSuspend. Info is at <https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/pssuspend>

About Create, upload, and share

Find help to solve issues with creating, uploading, and sharing files and folders in Dropbox. Get support and advice from the Dropbox Community.

Need more support

If you need more help you can view your support options (expected response time for an email or ticket is 24 hours), or contact us on X or Facebook.

For more info on available support options for your Dropbox plan, see this article.

If you found the answer to your question in this Community thread, please 'like' the post to say thanks and to let us know it was useful!