We are aware of the issue with the badge emails resending to everyone, we apologise for the inconvenience - learn more here.

Forum Discussion

AmandaNT's avatar
AmandaNT
New member | Level 2
8 years ago

Syncing Dropbox folder to external hard drive - Mac

For many years I have worked between Mac computers at home and at the office using an external hard drive to sync my files, however I would like to change to a Dropbox folder instead, for convenience and security reasons.

 

I would like to know if I can automatically sync a copy of my dropbox files to my external hard drive so I can still use it if I need to travel and there's no wifi to connect to dropbox.

 

Thanks

A

Sync
  • Karina's avatar
    Karina
    8 years ago
    Hey AmandaNT ! :upside_down:
     
    Thanks for reaching out on the Community about this. 
     
    Unfortunately, we can’t guarantee perfect / full functionality of the Dropbox app if you’re running it on an external drive. For the Dropbox application to work properly, I’d recommend that you install it on the hard drive of your Operating System. This is because Dropbox can’t always work correctly if the Dropbox folder becomes inaccessible, and this can happen if it's located on an external drive. 
     
    If you’d like to move the Dropbox folder to an external drive, you can read more about how to do this by clicking → here ← 
     
    One of the most important things to always keep in mind when making such a move is:
     
    • The Dropbox folder must always be available when your computer boots and before the Dropbox desktop app starts up.

      • Some external drives take some time to mount before your computer recognizes them, and the Dropbox desktop app could start running before the external drive is ready. 
      • This would lead to a potential error and Dropbox will get confused. 
      • If the external drive is disconnected from the computer while the Dropbox app is running, there's could be potential risk, such as the app starting to delete files.
     
    Hope this info helps clarify, and let me know if you have any additional questions about this. I’ll be happy to help!
     
    Thanks, 
    Karina
  • Karina's avatar
    Karina
    Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
    8 years ago
    Hey AmandaNT ! :upside_down:
     
    Thanks for reaching out on the Community about this. 
     
    Unfortunately, we can’t guarantee perfect / full functionality of the Dropbox app if you’re running it on an external drive. For the Dropbox application to work properly, I’d recommend that you install it on the hard drive of your Operating System. This is because Dropbox can’t always work correctly if the Dropbox folder becomes inaccessible, and this can happen if it's located on an external drive. 
     
    If you’d like to move the Dropbox folder to an external drive, you can read more about how to do this by clicking → here ← 
     
    One of the most important things to always keep in mind when making such a move is:
     
    • The Dropbox folder must always be available when your computer boots and before the Dropbox desktop app starts up.

      • Some external drives take some time to mount before your computer recognizes them, and the Dropbox desktop app could start running before the external drive is ready. 
      • This would lead to a potential error and Dropbox will get confused. 
      • If the external drive is disconnected from the computer while the Dropbox app is running, there's could be potential risk, such as the app starting to delete files.
     
    Hope this info helps clarify, and let me know if you have any additional questions about this. I’ll be happy to help!
     
    Thanks, 
    Karina
    • phileuro's avatar
      phileuro
      New member | Level 2
      8 years ago

      This answer is an embarassment!

      Google Drive has no problem being on an external drive. If you start up without the drive present they just warn you and then go into a disabled state.

      What does DropBox do? It deletes your preferences and settings, so when you do plug in the external drive you have to set it up again.

      No problem, I hear you say, I've got all the data so it should be easy.

      Not the case. First of all you run into the 'There's already a folder called Dropbox' error when trying to point to the old location. So you rename, create the new dropbox folder, then move all the contents into the new dropbox folder from the old. Guess what? It will take hours (or days in my case) to resync and use gigs of your network connection.

       

      It is pathetic and the reason that I switched to Google Drive for my laptop.

    • Sean_Larkin's avatar
      Sean_Larkin
      New member | Level 2
      7 years ago

      Can the DropBox app's startup be delayed, allowing sufficient time for any external drives to boot up? Or perhaps the DropBox app can be removed from the start up items, and instead be launched manually when the user sees that the external hard drive has booted and is recognized by the Mac?

      • Jane's avatar
        Jane
        Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
        7 years ago
        Hey Sean_Larki, 
         
        Welcome to our Forum, I’ll do my best to answer your question below. Happy 2018!
         
        At this point, I’ll have to reiterate Karina’s reply above, as we’d like users to have a seamless experience with the desktop application. Should you decide to move the Dropbox folder to an external hard drive regardless, you may keep in mind that you could follow the steps below to disable the app’s launch upon the device startup:
         
        1) Right click the Dropbox icon in the system tray at the the top of your screen on Mac
        2) Click on the gear icon in the Notifications panel and select "Preferences" from the menu 
        3) Verify that the box next to "Start Dropbox on system startup" is unchecked.
         
        Hopefully this is helpful to you, though please let me know here in case you have more questions. Wishing you a great weekend ahead! 

         

        [This thread is now closed by moderators due to inactivity. If you're experiencing a similar behavior, feel free to start a new discussion in the Find Answers section here. ]

About Apps and Installations

Have a question about a Dropbox app or installation? Reach out to the Dropbox Community and get solutions, help, and advice from members.

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!