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Can we have more folder options like custom folders or sub-folders to add to Computer Backup?
Right now, the automated backup option in Dropbox allows me to sync my Documents, Desktop and Downloads folders. By far the biggest - and most important - folder on my computer is the Music folder though. I can imagine for other people it's Pictures. Could we have a way to automatically backup those folders too?
To be really ambitious: would we be able to clone our computer on Dropbox? I used to have an Apple Time Machine that allowed you to do just that. If your computer broke down or was stolen, you could buy a new one, let it download the clone, including not just your documents but your applications and presets too, and you'd be good to go!
Please let Dropbox be the new Time Machine.
The option to select any folder we would like to add to the backup feature is a must, in order to make the Backup feature a real deal.
# Update
Well, I have something more to add.
I just realised how the dropbox backup feature works - It moves the selected folder inside the DropBox folder.
That's why when I was testing the feature for some folders, there were conflicts with other services like Google's Backup and Sync and iCloud Drive.
I wouldn't want to have my local folders all moved under the DropBox folder. I would prefer to be able to select specific folders and those would be simply backed up on Dropbox cloud. I would also like to be able to use the Backup feature alongside with my other backup services, so I can have my files backed-up on more than 1 locations.
So, the option to add more folders for the backup as it's currently implemented it's not what I want.
Under the "Backup" option in the dropbox app for Windows, currently theres an option to back up certain folders, such as Desktop, Music ... and so on.
I want an option to add custom folder to back up.
Reason. My setup is
At D:\Data I have my personal folders and files
At D:\Dropbox\Data I have my personal folders and files, that is beeing sync. to my Dropbox online
I want this option under 'Backup' to be "Add custom folders" so I can backup D:\Data to D:\Dropbox\Data
Many computers have more than one internal drive. I have such a computer. My C drive is where the OS (Win10) and all programs are loaded, however this drive is only 500GB. I use my D (also internal) for Documents and working space. This drive is 2TB, I also have an E drive, also internal, that I keep pictures and music on. It is 4TB.
I wanted to use Dropbox Backup for the backup of all my data. Dropbox by default loads onto the C drive. It is not uncommon for the SYNC'd data to exceed the size of the C drive. So I have moved my SYNC preference to my E drive and all seems to be OK.
Because of internet speed and size of data I want to keep the smart sync set to local. I have a travel laptop that has a 500gb size so I keep Dropbox SYNC onto C drive and web default set to On-Line. This allows me to access documents and data on my home PC's D and E drives while on the road without filling up the travel laptop C drive.
On my Home PC I want to use Backups to backup Documents and Downloads (my D drive) and Music and Pictures and Videos (my E drive) but the Backup routine wants to have these folders located on the C drive (which is an obvious issue due to size limits). However the backup routine will not "look" across different drives; therefore, Dropbox Backup is of no use (in my circumstance)
It would be most helpful to allow Dropbox Backup preference to look across different internal drives and Backup this data.
RFWalker3
Dropbox user since 2008
This sounds like a great idea!
Please allow us to choose any number of multiple folders on our computers. I would love to back up a folder on my one drive, another folder on my external drive, and you can see where this is going.
I sadly cancelled our business account which we were going to include for the entire group, because of this feature.
Dropbox is loosing market share to companies like one drive and google that can currently do this.
I really love dropbox and their values, and I'm sure dropbox engineers get a million feature updates/requests/bugs everyday but this one feature is actually affecting Dropbox's bottom line.
Limiting file back ups toDesktop, Documents and Downloads is dumb and make the entire point of the back up feature useless.
Dropbox keeps improving, which is good. Now it is able to backup parts of my computer outside of the Dropbox folder: the standard Windows folders such as Documents.
But I mostly use my own folder structure, not Documents, for my important work. So I need Dropbox to work outside of the special Dropbox folder and the special Windows folders. For example, I would like to add C:\MyProjects\ThisProject to automatic coverage by Dropbox, whether the Dropbox company wants to call this "backup" or not.
The Dropbox company is starting to waver from its insistence on using a Dropbox folder. First, it was the Selective Sync feature. Now it is the Backup feature. Why does the Dropbox company change so slowly, and in such a complicated way?
Windows NTFS Journalling works with any folder on a computer.
Some of us prefer to add the folders we wish to be backed up by Dropbox, instead of using a special Dropbox folder or one of the special Windows folders.
ADDED:
A good manual workaround is to find your SendTo folder (on my computer it is at C:\Users\USER\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo), and add to it a Shortcut to C:\Dropbox\backup . Also, create the "dropbox\backup" folder.
Now, every time you would like to manually backup a file or folder, go to File Explorer, right-click the file, and choose your backup shortcut. That will copy it to backup in Dropbox.
If you want automatic backup, without any action on your part, you have to vote up suggestions like this one, because the Dropbox company cannot figure out for itself which features are most useful to its customers.
I'd like to add that it's not useful to HAVE to have Dropbox on the same drive as the folders you want to back up. I store the vast majority of my files on a secondary hard drive (my faster, smaller SSD has my OS, and my larger HD is used for storage). Since Dropbox tells me I need to keep my Dropbox folder on the same drive as my OS, this means I can't back up the stuff that needs to be backed up.
That is a completely different issue, and a good one. It deserves its own thread, so ideally you would delete your posting here and post again in its own thread.
Hello. Id like the ability to auto backup a specific folder, not just the entire library. My current use case is that there is 1(!) folder within my downloads folder that I want to auto backup.
If I just backup that 1 folder it's 20gb but if I am forced to do the currently limited option of selecting the entire Downloads folder, it would rocket up to 48gb.
Please add this functionality. Thanks in advance.
Dear Dropbox,
I would like this to go further and allow you to browse to back up a secondary hard drive. My primary hard drive is used for running complex software and a secondary hard drive is used for file storage. I would like to use the back up function to be able to clone this hard drive so if something happened to the computer I would always have the files stored safely with you!
Is there any update on this one? I would like to just select whatever folders I would like to backup using standard windows file/directory dialog. Perhaps even add them via context menu.
I second this. Is there an update? There are many of us who would like to backup any folder on our PCs/Macs, not just Documents or Desktop or Downloads. This should be simple enough, it is surprising that Dropbox has not enabled that feature so far. Thanks.
Just to drop back in and let people know: YES, there is a substantial update, in two important ways:
- First, at least in Windows, you can now also add your Music, Pictures, and Videos folders to the set of folders to be backed up
- Second, and just as important, Dropbox is now able to recognize Windows shell folders that have been properly moved as such, and back them up even if they are not in their default system locations. That is, as long as you have moved the shell folders (such as "Music", say), by using the right-click context menu in Windows Explorer, clicking on "Properties", and then going to the "Location" tab to set the new location, Dropbox will happily backup those folders no matter where they reside physically.
Thank you, but I had other folders in mind, nit the default ones such as Music, Pictures or Videos. Let's say that I have a folder called "Work" under C:\ - I am unable to add it to the Backup.
Yes, that is correct, those still cannot be added
