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Forum Discussion
David S.266
10 years agoNew member | Level 1
Move Dropbox folder to removable drive?
I have an Intel Compute Stick with very little storage on the device itself. I tried to move my Dropbox folder to a microSD card installed in my Intel Compute Stick but I got an error message from Dropbox because the microSD card is removable. Is there any way of overriding this, so that I can put my Dropbox folder on my microSD card?
I had been searching and I found this. Just did it and it works perfectly. http://copytaste.com/io8211xb
Dropbox on a Thumb Drive
1. You can have your Dropbox folder on removable media (a flash/thumb drive) on Windows. If you have a flash/thumb drive, you will first need to mount it. This is done by:
a. Control panel --> Administrative Tools --> Computer Management --> Storage --> Disk Management
b. Right click on the flash/thumb drive, select Change Drive Letter and Paths…
c. Select add, then select Mount in the following empty NTFS folder, browse to your C:, select New Folder…
d. Name the folder "DB Mount", click OK, click OK, click OK. Close Computer Management.
e. You can now access your flash/thumb drive through its removable storage location (drive letter) or through the mounted location (C: DB Mount). Dropbox requires a local drive (the mounted volume).
2. Download Dropbox at: https://www.dropbox.com/install (You will have to signup for an account if you don't already have one).
3. If you have a flash/thumb drive, install Dropbox to the mounted drive in C:, named DB Mount. Select the this as the location for your Dropbox directory.
- MICHAEL T.81New member | Level 1
adam l. Thank you!!
Worked like a charm
- Jonathan G.4New member | Level 2
Adam, thanks - worked a treat!
Folks, remember to pause syncing in the Dropbox app if you ever even consider removing your card from the PC.
- Mike Z.7New member | Level 1
Adam,
Thank you very much!
This helped me out with my limited storage problem om my C-drive. - Praharsh B.New member | Level 1
thank you adam....it worked.
- Alexis G.1Super User
Beware. Even when you can use this mount trick to cheat Dropbox and move the content to an external drive, this is NOT supported by Dropbox and you can eventually have issues with your files or content.
Have good backups of your data. 2 or 3 copies.
- Krisztina G.New member | Level 1
I have the same problem and I'm before Adam's mount cheat. Because of I'm afraid of data loss I have a question: data loss could occur only on that device I used this trick or it would affect my whole dropbox cloud storage so that my other devices on which I have dropbox would have data losses too?
- MarkSuper User II
data loss could occur only on that device I used this trick or it would affect my whole dropbox cloud storage so that my other devices on which I have dropbox would have data losses too?
As Dropbox is linked to all other devices the data loss replicates across the cloud and then all other linked devices. In some cases it will also remove the data from the disconnected drive when/if its reconnected.
- Alexis G.1Super User
Mark is right.
Years ago when I was a newbie with Dropbox, I installed a Non-Supported Portable Dropbox app for testing in my wife profile in my computer. Something happens and I lost about 27,000 files.
Thanks God Support help me reverting back the event so I get my files back. I never ever used non supported solutions in my life since this scenario.
External drives and Network shares are not supported.
The good news is some NAS devices like Synology includes the Dropbox app so you can sync your NAS servers with Dropbox as well. A great solution for home network and even small to medium business.
- Krisztina G.New member | Level 1
Thanks for the answers! I decided I won't risk it.
- Felipe L.4New member | Level 1
Does anybody know a way to make sure the external drive is mounted *before* Dropbox starts in windows? This probably will make it more secure. Can I somehow stop dropbox from starting until it is sure the drive is mounted? I think this should be possible...
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