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This folder already contains a Dropbox directory. (Dropbox 3.03 on Fedora 21 (x64)
Is this some kind of a joke? I keep my dropbox folder on a separate partition to simply redirect the dropbox daemon to that location and not have to go through the whole download process all over again. Now, after a fresh install of Fedora 21, installing this new version of dropbox prevents me from pointing it to the previously installed location stating 'This folder already contains a Dropbox directory.'.... THIS NEEDS TO BE FIXED NOW!
- Uninstall Dropbox if it's installed. Rename your existing Dropbox folder to Dropbox_OLD or similar. Reinstall Dropbox and select the location that you want for the Dropbox folder. Keep in mind that external drives are NOT recommended as data loss can occur under the right conditions. When the installation is finished, Dropbox will immediately start to sync. Pause syncing or exit Dropbox. Move the content of Dropbox_OLD into the newly created Dropbox folder. When the move is complete, and not before, resume syncing or re-launch Dropbox.
At this point Dropbox will begin indexing all of your files. This process will take a while, especially with 700GB of data to go through. During this time it may say that files are uploading or downloading, but it's only transferring comparison data and any changes that it find. be patient and LET IT WORK.
John L.2Dropbox Staff
Hi Nathanel,
This is a known issue that we are working on fixing. Can you download 2.10.52 for now?
https://d1ilhw0800yew8.cloudfront.net/client/dropbox-lnx.x86_64-2.10.52.tar.gz
Thanks!
John3 years later, this issue still exists. in my case on ubuntu. are you guys not ashamed to not be able to fix such a trivial issue for years?
what it should do
- user installs dropbox
- user changes dropbox folder
- app detects its this same users 'same dropbox'
- app just updates this dropbox
whats the difficulty to make this right?
WARNING: DO NOT USE this workaround unless you had all copies synced to be equal before switching the desktop client software.
If you have an outdated but previously synced dropbox folder without new files on the outdated client software you should rename/remove it and let the system download newest version of files. Otherwise it will merge your old folder with up to date version on dropbox which will duplicate files (if you have moved them from one location to another within dropbox)
Awesome John, thank you for the prompt response :) - Other than that the new app looks great.
Hello,
What's the sketch with this? I needed to uninstall and reinstall dropbox but now I cannot use it because it wants to download all my files again to a new location (300gb worth). I need to be able to point the new installation to it's previous location. This is an urgent issue.
The link to v2.10.52 below does not contain a setup.exe file.
Thanks,
DaveDave, that specific link is for Linux based distributions, hence the 'Fedora' in the title... it's an unpacked version of the DB daemon for 64 bit linux-based distributions....
Hello. Thanks for the note Nathaniel - I was a bit out of my depth opening that then!!
My fix for this for anyone else coming across this was to copy both my dropboxes into a new folder, re-install dropbox, and then copy all my files back into the specified dropbox folders again. Didn't take too long and all synced up nicely again now.
- John L.2
Hi Dave,
Thanks for the report! This issue should have been fixed in 3.0.4. Were you still experiencing problems on that build?
Best,
John yes
I also have the same problem. I have Dropbox 3.05 and use Windows 7 Professional.
I renamed the original folder to DropboxOld and used the same process to begin the move. I planned to pause it as soon as it started, delete the new folder created by the application, and rename DropboxOld to Dropbox, but it has been stuck at "Moving Dropbox..." for a few minutes and when I look at the destination, it didn't even create a new Dropbox folder to begin copying files into.
The website is also remarkably inflexible. When I go to the download page, I only can download version 3.05 - not any older versions and not the 3.1.274 development version, which I need to use a search engine to find on another website.
Also having problems
On v3.0.5 of dropbox using Mint 17.1 x64
Same as another user
Dropbox 3.0.5 in Mint 17.1 x64
My Dropbox folder is in another partition (in another disk, really), and I can't use it because I can't pair the new client with the old Dropbox folder.
