Forum Discussion

euanburton's avatar
euanburton
Helpful | Level 6
2 years ago

Dropbox External Drive Backup - Changing Computers

I’ve just found out when you change Laptop / Desktop you can’t continue to use the same external hard drive with Dropbox Backup. This is absolute madness. If you want to continue to use that hard d...
Computer Backup
desktop
Dropbox Backup
upload
Jay's avatar
Jay
Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
3 months ago

Hi Fabiusssss, currently, there isn't a method to continue using an existing external drive backup when using a different computer. 

 

When using a different device, it would create a new Dropbox Backup on the site for the external drive.

Fabiusssss's avatar
Fabiusssss
New member | Level 1
3 months ago

Plus it means, that if the capacity on the drive itself isn't enough to house both backups, the first one would have to be deleted...or of course additional space would have to be bought. 

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!